Marcus Case Files: Writing Samples, Decision Record and Drafts

# Section 4 Prepared Practice Files: Voice Curation, Multi-Audience Drafts, and Spoken Rehearsal

**Purpose**: Authored fictional teaching materials for Section 4 (*Send messages your colleagues recognize as yours (AI Communication)*). Use these files to inspect the examples in Lectures `4.1` through `4.5` or test the prompts in `../prompts/section-04-prompts.md`.

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## 1. Marcus's Writing Samples & Voice Skill Curation (`4.1`–`4.2`)

### Three Permitted Writing Samples (`marcus-writing-samples.md`)
- **Sample 1 (Q3 Release Schedule Change)**:
  > "We are moving Thursday's release check to 11 a.m. so the QA team has a full hour to verify the staging build first. Please post your test results in the release folder by 10:30 a.m. If a test is still running at 10:30, flag the open ticket number so we can decide whether to hold that module."
- **Sample 2 (Vendor Escalation Handover)**:
  > "Starting Monday, Tomasz will lead the weekly cloud-vendor check-in so we have direct engineering eyes on latency issues. Please send him any open ticket numbers by Friday at 3 p.m. so he can prioritize the agenda."
- **Sample 3 (One-off Compliance Incident Note — 2 months ago)**:
  > "We paused external file exports on staging. Quarterly security verification is under way. Use the internal test bucket today, effective immediately until audit closure."

### Spoken Preference Note (`marcus-spoken-preferences.md`)
- "I like to state the decision and the practical reason for it in the first paragraph. I prefer everyday words over corporate jargon, and I always make clear what action I need from the reader."

### Voice Rule Curation Table (`personal-voice` Skill — `4.2`)

| Proposed Rule from Agent | Supporting Evidence Quoted | Marcus's Curation Decision | Final Rule in `personal-voice` Skill |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Rule 1**: Open updates with the confirmed decision and the practical reason behind it before listing actions. | Samples 1 & 2 openings; spoken note. | **KEEP** | State the confirmed decision and its practical reason in the opening lines before listing next steps. |
| **Rule 2**: Never exceed 12 words per sentence. | "We paused external file exports on staging." "Use the internal test bucket today, effective immediately until audit closure." (Sample 3, all under 12 words) | **CHANGE** (Too rigid; risks cutting out needed reasons or conditions.) | Prefer clear, concise sentences, without removing the reason behind a request or a condition on a decision. |
| **Rule 3**: Close announcements with `"effective immediately until audit closure."` | Sample 3 closing line. | **REMOVE** (Isolated phrase from a one-off compliance incident 2 months ago.) | *(Removed — keep one-off incident phrases, names, and dates out of reusable voice rules.)* |

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## 2. Confirmed Decision & Dual-Audience Adaptation (`4.3`)

### Confirmed Tuesday Planning-Meeting Decision (`tuesday-planning-decision.md`)
1. Routine status updates will be posted in the project folder before **9:00 a.m. on Tuesdays**.
2. The **30-minute Tuesday meeting** will focus solely on decisions and unresolved blockers.
3. Every unresolved blocker will be assigned **one named follow-up owner**.
4. **Trial condition**: Marcus will review the format after **3 weeks** to check whether meeting spillover dropped before making the change permanent.

### Team Draft vs. Senior Sponsor Draft (`audience-drafts-comparison.md`)

Marcus checks both drafts against the confirmed decision record. In the first sponsor draft, a line saying the new format "will keep delivery on schedule" edges toward a promise he never made. He changes it to "should help us catch blockers earlier, and I will check after 3 weeks whether the meeting still runs over." The team draft already keeps early warnings welcome, so with that one change both drafts match the decision record.

#### Draft A: To the 8-Person Delivery Team (approved as written)
> **Subject**: Tuesday planning meeting: 30-minute focus on blockers starting next week
>
> Starting next Tuesday, we are moving routine status updates into the project folder so our 30-minute planning meeting can focus on decisions and blockers.
>
> Please post your brief status update in the project folder before 9 a.m. each Tuesday. In the meeting, we will focus on what is stuck and assign one follow-up owner to each unresolved blocker. If you are stuck on something, bring it on Tuesday, even if you do not have a fix yet.
>
> We will test this routine for 3 weeks and check together whether it reduces meeting spillover.
>
> Thanks,  
> Marcus

#### Draft B: To the Senior Sponsor (after Marcus's one change)
> **Subject**: Department planning cadence: 3-week trial to protect blocker resolution
>
> From next Tuesday, routine status updates move into the project folder, so our 30-minute meeting can focus on decisions and blockers.
>
> Every unresolved blocker raised in the meeting will have a single named owner so accountability stays clear. We will run this format as a 3-week trial before deciding whether to make it permanent. It should help us catch blockers earlier, and I will check after 3 weeks whether the meeting still runs over.
>
> Best,  
> Marcus

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## 3. Spoken Rehearsal of the 3-Week Trial (`4.4` — Marcus)

- **Setting**: Marcus presents the 3-week Tuesday trial aloud to the senior sponsor in the weekly delivery review.
- **Prepared material**: His decision record (the change, the reason, the people affected and the 3-week check).
- **Plausible sponsor questions (generated from the supplied material)**: Why change now? What does the team gain? How will you know it worked?
- **Marcus's first spoken answer (Gap exposed)**: To "After 3 weeks, how will you know whether the meeting runs over less than it does now?" he explains how frustrating the long status round has become for his team, but never says how he will measure the change.
- **What he finds**: He knows the meeting has been running past its 30 minutes, but he has never counted by how much, so he has no starting number.
- **Marcus's revised spoken answer**:
  > "The Tuesday meeting has been running past its 30 minutes. The new format is meant to bring it back inside 30 minutes. I do not yet have the starting number, so before this review I will check how long each of the last 4 Tuesday meetings actually ran. After 3 weeks, I will compare the new meetings against that number."