Exec-readable summary

Purpose

Work that takes hours to make is often read in minutes, and the reader needs the answer and the next action fast. This skill turns raw work into one page that can be reviewed in seconds, with the detail folded away but kept. The sender must read it and stand behind it before it goes out.

When to use

• Raw work must go to someone who did not make it, and the recipient will not read the whole thing.
• A leader needs a decision page from a long analysis.
• A raw AI answer or a long thread must be shared with a colleague.

Route elsewhere when:

• The output is a slide deck. Use the slides type.
• The output is a formal document with a required template.

Inputs

• The raw work, in full.
• The recipient, and what they must do after reading.
• The verdict the work supports.
• Any figure or claim the sender cannot source.

Procedure

1. Read all of the raw work. Extract the recipient, the ask, the verdict, each fact with its place in the source, and the gaps: missing data, contradictions, and claims with no evidence.
2. Ask at most two questions, in one message: who receives this, and what must they do with it? And what is the one thing they must understand? Offer a proposed verdict so the sender can say yes. Any question left unanswered becomes a labeled assumption, not a second question.
3. Choose the shape from the content. A report suits a dashboard. A plan suits a one-page view. A decision suits a comparison of options. A change suits a diagram of what moved.
4. Write for the reader. Use short, active sentences. Use one word for one thing. Avoid idioms. Give absolute dates. Name one owner for each action.
5. Build the three layers:
   • the top, read in ten seconds: the verdict in one sentence, the ask with its deadline, and at most three key numbers;
   • the body, read in about two minutes: an interactive view in the shape chosen in step 3;
   • the evidence, folded: sources, method, assumptions, and what was cut.
6. Check the top. If the reader reads only the top and closes the page, do they know the answer and their next action? If not, rewrite the top.
7. Tag every number. A figure in the source is sourced. A figure derived by calculation is calculated. A figure taken as a stated assumption is assumed. A figure with no tag is wrong. Where two sources disagree, show both values, and on the top if the figure appears there.
8. Measure the read time. The top plus the longest section, at about two hundred words a minute, as a default. More than three minutes means more cuts, or more folding.
9. Mark the first version as a draft, with a banner that says it is not signed. Tell the sender in one line what it is and ask what belongs on top, what to cut, and what is wrong.
10. Run the review loop. Apply the sender's changes to the current page rather than rebuilding it. Each block carries keep, cut, fix and move-up options.
11. Get the sign-off. When the sender approves, ask once: "Did you read all of it, and do you stand behind it?" Only a yes changes the banner to a signed line with the name and date. No signature, no change.

Output

• The page: the top, the body and the folded evidence.
• The tagged number list, with each figure's source tag.
• The read time.
• The draft or signed status.

Quality bar

The top states the answer, not the topic. Every number has a tag. The read time is shown. The page is not signed until the sender says so. Watch for a top that names a topic and not a verdict, text pasted into cards with the same structure as the source, and a page the sender signs without changes, which suggests they did not read it.

Rules

• Show the draft banner until the sender signs.
• No number appears without a source, calculation or assumption tag.
• Never sign on the sender's behalf.
• Keep every cut in the folded evidence, so nothing is lost.