Communicating with SCQA

A crucial aspect of any job is communicating your point of view clearly and susinctly. Putting words together to form and support an idea is a learnt and practised art.

People often ask me how I am so awesome at communicating. I have a technique which I always rely on. SCQA; simply break the message down on four points: the situation, complication, question and answer. This allows the reader (/listener) to understand your point of view nicely and easily.

So, what is the S, C, Q and A?

Situation
An overview/introduction in to what is going on

Complication
This is the climax, some tension or drama that really gets people going 'oh, that's not good'. Amount of drama to use obviously depends on the situation and your own agenda, don't over do it crying wolf.

Question
What can we do to resolve this?

Answer
You can lead the witness and help out with an answer.. Or you could structure the above three so that there is no option but what you're suggesting.


I should mention, the Q and A parts are optional. 


And voila, messaging made easy for the sender and receiver.

In example
S As you're aware TesterA has been allocated to two projects, C and as a result they have been unable to complete testing on ProjectX. Q Should we do something about this? A I suggest hiring a Project Manager who can count. It would make sense to have them assigned full time to ProjectX.