{"id":"lead-extension-request-to-boss-email","audience":"managers","category":"leadership-work","track":"leadership","level":"beginner","technique":"tone","title":"Ask your boss for an extension without making excuses","free":false,"task":"Write an email to your director, Ravi, in plain text, under 90 words. First line exactly: Subject: Request to move the vendor report to Nov 21. Say what is done, the new date you propose, and what he will have on the original date. Do not blame another team or give a long explanation. End with the line: Can you confirm by Wednesday?","materialLabel":"Your status (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"Vendor report - status\n\n- Original due date: Friday, Nov 14.\n- Done: data collected from all 9 vendors and the cost comparison table (finished Nov 10).\n- Not done: the recommendation section and the risk review, which need the Nov 18 call with the last vendor, who rescheduled.\n- Proposal: deliver the full report on Friday, Nov 21.\n- On Nov 14 I can give Ravi the cost comparison table and a one-page summary of findings so far.\n- The Procurement team was slow to send two contracts. (Do not mention this.)\n- Ravi is busy and prefers short emails.","rules":[{"type":"maxWords","max":90},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Blaming Procurement","why":"The AI explains the contract delay.","fix":"Say: \"Do not blame another team.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Too long an explanation","why":"The AI apologizes at length.","fix":"Say: \"No long explanation; one clause on the cause.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Nothing on the original date","why":"The AI asks only for more time.","fix":"Say: \"Say what he will have on the original date.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Missing exact lines","why":"The AI writes its own subject and ending.","fix":"Say: \"First and last lines exactly as given.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Markdown","why":"The AI bolds the new date.","fix":"Say: \"Plain text.\"","checks":["plainText"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands over it.","fix":"Cap each part instead, for example: \"each line under 15 words.\"","checks":["maxWords"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Exact subject and ending","patterns":["subject: request to move","can you confirm by wednesday"]},{"label":"Done, new date, original-date deliverable","patterns":["what is done","new date","original date"]},{"label":"No blame","patterns":["do not blame","long explanation"]},{"label":"Caps words","patterns":["under 90 words"]},{"label":"Plain text","patterns":["plain text"]}],"hint":"Give the exact first and last lines and say what the email must state and avoid.","rubricLabels":["The first line is exactly \"Subject: Request to move the vendor report to Nov 21\" and the last line is exactly \"Can you confirm by Wednesday?\"","States what is done (data from 9 vendors and the cost table), the new date of Friday, Nov 21, and what he will have on Nov 14 (the cost table and a one-page summary)","Does not mention Procurement or contracts, and explains the delay only as the last vendor call on Nov 18"]}