Composura: Rehearse Hard Talks

You get one shot at the real conversation. Have it here first.

Composura is a rehearsal room for the three conversations new managers dread:
telling someone their work isn't landing, saying no to someone more senior, and
telling a person they didn't get the promotion. You type what you would actually
say. Someone pushes back the way they actually will. Then you get graded.

THE SCORECARD IS THE POINT

Most practice apps hand you a transcript and a compliment. Composura hands you a
verdict, and it quotes you to justify it. Every rehearsal ends on four axes:

01 Named the behavior, not the person
"You've missed three deadlines" lands. "You're unreliable" starts a fight.

02 Held the position under pressure
When they pushed back, did you stay put or did you soften it away?

03 Got to the point
How many turns went by before the real message arrived?

04 Left them with a path
Did they leave with a concrete next step, or just criticism?

Each axis is scored, backed by a line you actually wrote, and paired with one
specific thing to change next time. No generic praise. No "be more assertive."

CHOOSE HOW HARD THEY MAKE IT

The difficulty is the person across the table, not the app.

Receptive — engages in good faith, mild pushback.
Defensive — deflects, makes excuses, redirects blame.
Hostile — questions whether you should be having this conversation at all.

Run the same situation three ways and watch which version of you survives.

THREE SITUATIONS, WRITTEN LIKE REAL ONES

• Critical feedback to a defensive report. Three missed sprints. He's capable,
he knows it, and he doesn't think it's his fault.
• Saying no to a senior stakeholder. A VP wants your team to absorb one more
thing before quarter end. You have no room and she is used to hearing yes.
• Telling someone they didn't get the promotion. She expected it. She was told
she was close. She didn't get it.

Each one opens with a briefing: the history, the stakes, and what a good outcome
would actually look like.

BUILT TO FEEL LIKE PRESSURE, NOT LIKE A CHAT APP

Replies arrive after a pause, the way a real answer does. A turn counter runs
down in front of you. It's five minutes, not a course — the right length for the
gap before a 1:1 you're nervous about.

No account. No setup. Your rehearsals are stored on your device.

FREE AND PREMIUM

Free: the first situation, the Receptive counterpart, three rehearsals a month,
and the first scorecard axis on every one of them.

Premium unlocks all three situations, all three counterparts, unlimited
rehearsals, the full four-axis scorecard, and your complete history so you can
see whether you're actually getting better.

$6.99 / month • $39.99 / year

Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the
period ends. Manage or cancel any time in Google Play.

WHO IT'S FOR

New and first-time managers. Team leads who got promoted for their technical
work and inherited the hard conversations along with the title. Anyone who has
ever rewritten the same message six times and still not sent it.

Composura is a rehearsal tool. It is not therapy, legal advice, or HR guidance.