SMEAC: Military Communication Framework for Business

Summary

Jon Matzner’s thread adapting the Marine Corps five-paragraph order (SMEAC) for civilian business use. The framework is a structured way to communicate assignments, brief teams, and write memos. It scales from a five-sentence Slack message to multi-page operational plans. Matzner used it to go on vacation during a manufacturing facility launch — the written orders were clear enough that the team executed without him.

The Framework

Military Version (SMEAC)

1. Situation — what’s happening
2. Mission — what to accomplish
3. Execution — how to do it
4. Admin/Logistics — resources and details
5. Command/Signal — who’s in charge, how to communicate

Civilian Adaptation

1. Background/Context — what’s the big picture? What are other teams doing? What is competition doing?
2. Goal — one sentence. Use “Who, What, Where, When, Why” format. Always include “in order to” for the why — this lets the team be flexible in how they accomplish the goal.
3. Execution — major steps and details for how the team will execute
4. Admin — finer points: budgets, overtime authorization, resource details, passwords, contacts
5. Communication/Leader — where to communicate, who is in charge

Key Principles

• The “in order to” clause in the Goal section is critical — it gives the team permission to adapt the approach while keeping the purpose clear
• The framework is infinitely scalable — can be a paragraph or pages long
• “If you don’t have time to be clear and specific as a leader, you don’t have time to be a leader”
• Written orders enable decentralized execution — you can step away and the team still knows what to do

Quick Example

“Hey, Assistant — I’m traveling to France next month. I need you to book my flight there in order to get my wife/son and me from LAX to Paris. Anytime first week of December on United works. Once you’ve booked with my corporate AMEX add it to my calendar and let me know via Whatsapp.”

All five parts are in that paragraph.

Connections

Directly applicable to how Ray Data Co delegates work — every task handoff benefits from this structure. The “in order to” pattern is especially valuable for AI agent delegation, where communicating intent (not just instructions) produces better outcomes.

Connects to the broader theme of management as operational craft — clear written communication is a prerequisite for predictable execution.