That's a personal judgement, but for me the answer is "there isn't one".

I'll happily provide people with escape routes, sops to their feelings, answers that are impersonally phrased or any of the other ways of avoiding conflict, but I won't lie. Harmony that requires me to do so is, IMHO, harmony not worth having.

White lies are insidious little beasts. Once you start using them, where do you stop? At what point does your attempt to protect someone's feelings (or ego) start impinging on the clear picture that person needs to have to do their job? Or, to put it another way, would being told only the good news give you a warm fuzzy feeling or scare you to death?

Sorry; this has inadvertently turned into a rant. I'll dismount my hobby horse now.