{"id":"it-new-login-rollout-email","audience":"it","category":"writing-emails","technique":"audience","track":"security","level":"intermediate","free":true,"title":"Get 2,000 people onto the new sign-in without flooding the helpdesk","task":"On Monday, Nov 16 the old password sign-in switches off for all 2,000 employees, and the last rollout produced 900 helpdesk tickets. Write the all-staff email from you, Sam Okoye (IT Support). Plain text, under 140 words, no jargon. The first line must be exactly: Subject: Set up your new sign-in by Fri, Nov 13. Say the ONE thing to do and the date in the next two lines. Give exactly 3 numbered steps. Say calmly what happens if someone does not. The last line starts with \"Help:\" and says where to get help. No greeting or thank-you, and nothing about how the technology works or the last rollout.","materialLabel":"The rollout plan (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"ROLLOUT NOTES (Sam, Tue)\nCutover is Mon Nov 16, 8:00am: password + SMS code (MFA) stops working for everyone, 2,000 staff. Replacement is passkeys (FIDO2/WebAuthn via the new IdP, replacing the old SSO flow). Staff need to enrol before then; deadline for staff is Fri Nov 13 so Monday is quiet. Whole thing takes about 3 minutes: go to go/newsignin on the work laptop or phone, hit \"Create passkey\", approve with fingerprint, face or phone PIN, then sign out and sign in once with it to test.\n\nIf someone misses it: from Monday 8:00am no email, chat or timesheets. They have to phone the helpdesk and prove who they are, about an hour each.\n\nHelp: drop-in in Room 2B on Wed Nov 11 and Thu Nov 12, 10am to 2pm; remote staff can join the same hours by video at go/signinhelp. Helpdesk is ext 4400, 8am to 6pm.\n\nBACKGROUND (internal): last rollout in March produced 900 tickets, mostly from a long email full of acronyms with no deadline. An audit finding drove this change. Leadership wants zero lockouts. Passkeys are phishing-resistant and the private key never leaves the device.","rules":[{"type":"maxWords","max":140},{"type":"numberedItems","count":3},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Jargon in the announcement","why":"The AI repeats the technical terms from the plan, and staff stop reading.","fix":"Add: \"No jargon. Say passkey and sign-in, never the technical standard.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"No clear one thing and date","why":"The AI explains the change first and puts the deadline in the middle or leaves it out.","fix":"Add: \"Say the ONE thing to do and the date to do it by in the first two lines.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Steps that are vague or too many","why":"The AI writes a long how-to with sub-steps, or says \"follow the instructions on the page\".","fix":"Add: \"Give exactly 3 numbered steps from the plan, and say it takes about 3 minutes.\"","checks":["r1","numberedItems"]},{"title":"A scary tone","why":"The AI writes \"URGENT: you WILL be locked out!\" which sends people straight to the helpdesk.","fix":"Add: \"Say calmly what happens if they do not. The last line starts with Help: and says where to get help.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI writes a long announcement with bold headings and bullet lists when you only say \"short\".","fix":"Say \"under 120 words, plain text\" and cap the parts, like \"one sentence each\".","checks":["maxWords","plainText"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Says who it is for","patterns":["all[- ]staff","employees","everyone","non-technical"]},{"label":"Puts one thing and one date first","patterns":["one thing","first two lines","nov 13","deadline"]},{"label":"Asks for exactly 3 numbered steps","patterns":["3 (numbered )?steps","three steps","numbered"]},{"label":"Asks for plain language and a calm tone","patterns":["no jargon","plain","calm","friendly"]},{"label":"Covers what happens and where to get help","patterns":["what happens","if they don'?t","help:?","under \\d+ words","last line"]}],"hint":"Two thousand people will skim this. Give the exact subject line, ask for the one thing and the date first, exactly 3 numbered steps, a calm line on what happens if they wait, a final Help line, and no jargon.","mission":"Tell 2,000 people the one thing to do by Friday, in under 140 words.","musts":["The one thing and the date, first","Exactly 3 plain steps","What happens if they wait, calmly, and a Help line"],"rubricLabels":["The first line is exactly \"Subject: Set up your new sign-in by Fri, Nov 13\", the next two lines say the one thing to do (set up the new sign-in, a passkey) and the date (Fri, Nov 13), and the email uses no jargon such as FIDO2, WebAuthn, MFA, IdP, SSO or enrol","The 3 numbered steps match the notes: open go/newsignin, choose \"Create passkey\" and approve with fingerprint, face or phone PIN, then sign out and sign in once to check; it says setup takes about 3 minutes","It says calmly that from Mon, Nov 16 at 8:00am the old password sign-in stops working (email, chat and timesheets) and getting back in means a helpdesk call; the last line starts with \"Help:\" and gives the drop-in help (Room 2B, Wed Nov 11 and Thu Nov 12, 10am to 2pm) or the helpdesk phone (ext 4400); there is no all-caps warning, exclamation mark, or the words urgent, critical or failure to comply"]}