Clarity Rating Scale: Outage at AT&T

On the Hot Seat: According to CNBC, early Thursday, tens of thousands of AT&T customers across the U.S. reported widespread service outages and were unable to use their phones without access to WiFi. The outage raised concerns that AT&T had been hit with a potential cyberattack. The company said service was restored to all affected customers shortly after 3 p.m. ET.

How did AT&T handle crisis communications?

The Good:

• This website was set up for updates. The information, although brief, is succinct and clear.

• A timely statement was released on Thursday: “Keeping our customers connected remains our top priority, and we are taking steps to ensure our customers do not experience this again in the future.”

• A coordinated release of information on X on the AT&T News account and reshared by the AT&T account to the channel’s 915k followers. The first post directs people to the webpage above with updates. Nice.

The Hmmm:

• Three days later, yesterday, the CEO apologized in a letter to employees and AT&T apologized to customers, **I think**, by text.

  • I received the text above at 8:11 p.m. CT last night (interrupted Money Heist binge-watching)

    • Is it spam? Is it real?

    • Should AT&T text people after 8 p.m. on a Sunday night?

    • I argue it’s too brief. If you can send one text, send two with more details, like will I get a credit that is mentioned in the CEO’s message? Share the statement URL? Send people to the webpage with updates?

    • Writing brief messages is a challenge, but can I get a few more details on what “commit to doing better” means?

• During the entire crisis from Thursday to this morning, there were a total of 4 posted messages on X. (See image below) Curious if that is enough?

  • For example, why wasn’t the CEO apology shared on X?

• So, what happened? Was it a cyberattack?

  • Chief Executive John Stankey shares the outage was caused by “the application and execution of an incorrect process used while working to expand our network.”

    • Does this smell like legalese to you?

      • I can just hear the various departments debating how to write that sentence, and by the looks of it, the lawyers won.

    • Exercise: Read Stankey’s answer to one person and ask them what it means.

Overall Clarity Rating Score for AT&T outage response:   3

• They certainly were on top of the crisis and communicating with media and customers.

• Not sure why the apology took three days.

• Still not sure why the outage happened, and the answer given makes me think there is more to the story.

The Clarity Rating Scale measures effective communications on a scale of 1 to 5 using this criteria:

1: Blurry, Indistinct

2: Slightly Focused, Needs Adjustment

3: Moderately Focused, Fair Clarity

4: Well-Focused, High Clarity

5: Razor-Sharp Focus, Crystal Clear (Are we clear?)