Use this bank to assess written communication that is crisp, audience‑aware, inclusive, and action‑oriented. Each section includes prompts and cues for what strong answers demonstrate.

Audience, Purpose & Outcomes

• Before you write, how do you define the goal and audience?
  Good answers: Clear purpose, target readers, desired action, and success criteria; BLUF vs. narrative choice.
• Describe a time tailoring the same message for execs vs. peers.
  Good answers: Two artifacts shown; differences in length, detail, and visual support; outcome improved.
• How do you decide the right channel (email, doc, ticket, chat)?
  Good answers: Consider permanence, audience size, sensitivity, decision needed, and async latency.
• What do you include up front for busy readers?
  Good answers: BLUF/TL;DR, key decision/ask, options, deadline, and owner.
• When do you choose not to write?
  Good answers: Ambiguity high or emotions high → quick call then written recap.

Structure & Clarity

• What’s your go‑to structure for a one‑pager?
  Good answers: Context → problem → options → recommendation → risks → next steps; headings and consistent hierarchy.
• How do you make long docs skimmable?
  Good answers: Descriptive headers, bullets, tables, summaries, callouts, and internal links.
• Share a time you simplified a dense message.
  Good answers: Removed jargon, shorter sentences, active voice, visuals; response time improved.
• What signals tell you your writing wasn’t clear?
  Good answers: Repeated questions, misaligned work, or slow approvals; responds with rewrite and confirmation.
• How do you prevent wall‑of‑text?
  Good answers: Chunking, whitespace, bullets, and formatting with purpose.

Tone, Style & Professionalism

• How do you adjust tone across cultures and levels?
  Good answers: Politeness markers, directness calibration, honorifics where appropriate, and emoji/ellipsis discipline.
• Describe a time you de‑escalated via writing.
  Good answers: Acknowledged emotion, restated facts, proposed options, invited call.
• What’s your rule for negative feedback in writing?
  Good answers: Behavior‑impact framing, actionable next steps, and balanced tone; sensitive topics live, then recap.
• How do you write to earn trust?
  Good answers: Evidence links, transparent risks, commitments with dates, and follow‑through.
• How do you maintain a consistent voice across artifacts?
  Good answers: Style guide, templates, and review checkpoints.

Grammar, Mechanics & Precision

• What is your pre‑send checklist?
  Good answers: Names, numbers, links, attachments, dates/times, spelling/grammar, and formatting.
• How do you prevent errors in recurring docs?
  Good answers: Templates with variables, proofreading passes, peer reviews, and locked sections.
• Describe a costly writing mistake and the fix.
  Good answers: Owns the error, root cause, remediation, and new safeguards.
• What’s your approach to numbers in writing?
  Good answers: Rounding rules, consistent units, footnotes, and source/date stamps.
• How do you balance brevity with necessary detail?
  Good answers: BLUF + appendix; collapsible detail; links to deeper docs.

Documentation, Sources & Decision Records

• How do you cite or link evidence?
  Good answers: Inline links, reference section, and archived copies; avoids link rot.
• Show your decision log format.
  Good answers: Problem, options, chosen path, assumptions, date, owner, review point.
• How do you keep living docs current?
  Good answers: Owners, change log, review cadence, and “last updated” metadata.
• What versioning/naming conventions do you use?
  Good answers: Semantic or date‑based versions, one source of truth, archive policy.
• How do you guard against misinterpretation over time?
  Good answers: Clear definitions, context sections, and decision rationale.

Accessibility & Inclusivity

• How do you ensure accessibility in writing?
  Good answers: Plain language, alt text, headings, readable contrast, and avoid images of text.
• What do you do to avoid exclusionary language?
  Good answers: Gender‑neutral terms, inclusive examples, and cultural sensitivity checks.
• How do you write for global audiences?
  Good answers: Avoid idioms, clarify dates/units, glossary, and simple sentence structures.
• When do you provide translations or localized variants?
  Good answers: Audience thresholds, legal/compliance needs, local reviewers.
• How do you handle screen‑reader and mobile constraints?
  Good answers: Ordered headings, link text clarity, scannable layouts.

Async Collaboration & Workflows

• How do you avoid Slack/email ping‑pong?
  Good answers: Bundle context, propose options, set decision time, and use threads.
• What artifacts keep teams aligned?
  Good answers: One‑pagers, status updates, roadmaps, release notes, and templates.
• How do you run an async review?
  Good answers: Pre‑reads, structured comments, due‑by dates, and a single decider.
• Describe your approach to tracked changes and comments.
  Good answers: Clear resolutions, summaries in recaps, and archive of decisions.
• What is your update cadence on long projects?
  Good answers: Weekly BLUF updates with risks, asks, and next steps.

Feedback, Editing & Revision

• How do you solicit and incorporate feedback?
  Good answers: Early drafts to right reviewers, specific asks, version diffs, and rationale for accepted/declined edits.
• Share a meaningful edit you made after tough feedback.
  Good answers: Humility, impact, and improved clarity/outcome.
• What’s your rewrite workflow for important docs?
  Good answers: Outline → draft → review → edit pass → final proof; checks at each step.
• How do you maintain authorial voice with multiple contributors?
  Good answers: Style guide, editor role, and final pass for cohesion.
• When do you stop editing?
  Good answers: Decision deadlines and diminishing returns; locks final with change log.

Cross‑Functional & Role‑Specific Variants

• Product/Design: Write a crisp change log and migration note. Good answers: Risks, roll‑back, and user impact.
• Engineering: Draft a clear PR description and README update. Good answers: Repro steps, context, and definition of done.
• Sales/Success: Customer email about a delay. Good answers: Empathy, options, timeline.
• Ops/HR/Finance: Policy update memo. Good answers: Effective date, who’s affected, and actions required.
• Marketing: Positioning brief. Good answers: Audience, key message, proof, CTA.

Case Study Exercises

• Rewrite a 200‑word rambling update into a 5‑bullet BLUF summary.
• Draft a one‑page proposal for a tooling change, including options and a recommendation.
• Compose a customer email about a billing mistake; preserve trust and outline next steps.
• Create a release note for a new feature with headings, links, and guardrails.
• Edit a policy update for clarity, inclusivity, and accessibility; list the exact changes.

Tip: Look for empathy, structure, precise language, and explicit next steps. Great written communication reduces back‑and‑forth and accelerates decisions.