The longer the windup, the worse the news sounds by the time you actually say it. People can handle bad news. What they can't handle is watching you work up to it.
There's a specific pattern that makes bad news land worse than it needs to: three sentences of preamble, a soft transition like "so, unfortunately," and then the actual information arriving almost as an afterthought. By the time the real news shows up, the person you're talking to has already spent thirty seconds bracing for something worse than what you're about to say. The delivery did more damage than the content.
The better pattern is almost the opposite of instinct: say the news first, in one sentence, before you explain anything. Then give the reason. Then say what happens next. This feels too abrupt the first time you try it. It isn't, it's just fast, and fast is a form of respect.
"Hey, do you have a minute? So I wanted to talk about the project timeline, we've been looking at everything that's involved, and there's been a lot going on with the other priorities too, and I think what's happened is we're probably going to need to push the launch back, unfortunately."
"I need to tell you we're pushing the launch back two weeks. The integration testing found more issues than we scoped for, and shipping on time means shipping with known problems. Here's the new plan, and here's what I need from you this week."
Notice the direct version isn't colder, if anything it reads as more in control, because it's clear you're not scrambling to figure out how to say it. That composure is what people actually remember about how you handled a hard moment, more than the bad news itself.
Two more things worth building into how you deliver bad news. First, don't apologize more than once. A single, genuine acknowledgment lands. Three or four apologies in a row start to sound like you're managing your own guilt rather than the other person's problem, it shifts the conversation from them to you. Second, always land the message with what happens next, even if "next" is just "I'll have more detail by Thursday." Bad news without a next step leaves people stuck holding it with nowhere to put it.
Last thing: deliver it yourself, and deliver it before they hear it from someone else. Bad news that travels secondhand always sounds worse than it is, and it costs you credibility you didn't need to spend.