| name | growth-sustainability-data |
| description | Method for collecting and gathering data for growth and sustainability across the 11-business portfolio. Defines the two-layer stack — Analyst (direction + analysis) commands collector skills (CMO, CFO, CTO, CS, Margot, wiki, Scout, marketing) — and the handoff contract between them. Use when framing executive visibility, research sprints, board prep, or any question about whether the business can grow and endure. |
| owner_role | CoS |
| status | wave-5 |
Method — Collecting and Gathering Data for Growth and Sustainability
Growth = can revenue and distribution compound? Sustainability = can cash, margin, retention, and
ops survive the compounding? This skill defines how data is collected; the Analyst skill
defines how it is directed, graded, and turned into decisions.
Two-layer architecture
| Layer | Role | Skill | Does |
|---|
| Direction + analysis | Frames questions, tasks collectors, grades evidence, synthesises, states kill-switches | analyst | Intelligence cycle (FRAME → GAP-SCAN) |
| Collection | Acquires raw signals in specified form | This skill's routing table (below) | Fetch, scrape, poll, ledger-write |
The Analyst commands collectors; it does not passively receive their output. Every collection
run starts with an Analyst FRAME (decision, primary question, sub-questions, confidence threshold).
Every collection run ends with Analyst EVALUATE + SYNTHESISE before anything reaches the founder.
What "growth" and "sustainability" mean here
| Dimension | Primary metrics | Collector owner | Ledger |
|---|
| Growth | LTV:CAC, blended CPA, channel HHI, attribution decay, pipeline velocity | cmo-growth | .harness/swarm/cmo_state.jsonl |
| Financial sustainability | Burn multiple, NRR, runway, gross margin, model-spend ratio | cfo | .harness/swarm/cfo_state.jsonl |
| Technical sustainability | DORA quartet, p99, uptime, cost-per-request | cto | .harness/swarm/cto_state.jsonl |
| Customer sustainability | NPS, FCR, GRR, first-response, churn threats | cs-tier1 | .harness/swarm/cs_state.jsonl |
| Outcome feedback | Post-ship positive/negative/stale signals | analyzing-customer-patterns | .harness/lessons.jsonl |
| Portfolio health | Security scores, scan regressions | pi-seo-health-monitor | .harness/scan-results/ |
| External intelligence | Market/competitor/tooling signals | Scout, margot-bridge | Linear [SCOUT] issues, .harness/margot/ |
| Accumulated context | Founder wiki, prior research | wiki-query → wiki-ingest | ~/2nd Brain/2nd Brain/Wiki/ |
Collection cycle (operational)
Run this stack for every growth/sustainability question. The Analyst owns steps 1–2 and 5–7;
collectors own 3–4.
1. ANALYST FRAME
decision · primary question · sub-questions · confidence threshold
2. ANALYST DECOMPOSE
load-bearing assumptions → priority collection targets
3. TASK COLLECTORS (parallel where independent)
per sub-question: skill + exact data shape + source + minimum grade (B2 default)
4. COLLECTORS RETURN
structured payloads only — no prose summaries without raw numbers/sources
5. ANALYST EVALUATE
NATO/Admiralty grade each claim; reject/down-weight weak evidence explicitly
6. ANALYST SYNTHESISE
§11 output format (question, answer, evidence, alternative, unknowns, kill-switch, next collection)
7. COMPOUND
if durable → wiki-ingest; if action-shaped → margot-sandcastle-bridge; if daily metric → senior-agent ledger
Loop steps 2→7 until confidence threshold met or marginal collection cost exceeds value.
The Analyst must state which stop condition fired.
Collector routing table
Dispatch collectors by sub-question type. Multiple collectors may run in parallel when file/skill
ownership does not overlap.
| Sub-question signal | Collector skill(s) | Typical data shape |
|---|
| Channel mix, ad spend, CAC, LTV | cmo-growth, marketing-analytics-attribution | Metrics row per business_id |
| SEO demand, keyword opportunity | marketing-seo-researcher, pi-seo-scanner | Keyword cluster JSON + difficulty |
| ICP, positioning, market size | marketing-icp-research, marketing-positioning | ICP canvas + cited sources |
| Burn, runway, margin, NRR | cfo | Metrics snapshot per business |
| Deploy reliability, latency, CI health | cto | DORA + p99 row |
| Support load, churn, NPS | cs-tier1 | Ticket metrics + breach list |
| Shipped feature outcomes | analyzing-customer-patterns | Pattern JSON + outcome lessons |
| ZTE / pipeline maturity | leverage-audit, zte-maturity | Scorecard + dimension gaps |
| Fast-moving external topic | wiki-query then margot-bridge if go_external | Wiki answer + research body |
| AI/tooling landscape | Scout (python -m app.server.agents.scout) | Scored findings → Linear |
| Campaign / launch artefacts | marketing-orchestrator wave plan | Wave-plan JSON |
Wiki-first rule: Before any external research call, run wiki-query. Inject wiki context into
the Analyst FRAME; do not duplicate collection the wiki already answers at high confidence.
Minimum collection quality bar
Collectors return graded evidence, not vibes:
- Every numeric claim carries
source, as_of date, and NATO/Admiralty grade (Analyst assigns if collector cannot).
- Proxy metrics must state the proxy, the target, and known failure modes.
- Synthetic provider data (senior-agent default) is tagged
provider: synthetic — Analyst downgrades to C3 until real wire confirmed.
- Two outlets repeating one origin = one source (Analyst dedupes before counting corroboration).
Default actionable floor: B2 (usually-reliable source, probably-true claim). Below that → gap, not conclusion.
Daily composition path
The 06:00 UTC executive brief (daily-6-pager) is the downstream consumer of this method:
- Senior agents write per-cycle ledger rows (collection layer, unattended).
- Analyst-style synthesis is embedded in each agent's
assemble_daily_brief() (deterministic).
- Non-trivial strategic questions bypass the daily brief and run the full Analyst cycle explicitly.
When a daily brief section shows a breach, the Analyst loop may be invoked for root-cause — not
just the metric snapshot.
Analyst doctrine (direction layer)
The full Research & Intelligence Doctrine — identity, prime directives, collection cycle,
evidence grading, gap engine, acquisition pathways, ACH, scenario planning, domain lenses,
self-audit, and §11 output format — lives in analyst/SKILL.md.
Non-negotiable: No growth/sustainability conclusion ships to the founder without Analyst §11
items 4–6 (leading alternative, critical unknowns, kill-switch). A number without a kill-switch
is a dashboard widget, not intelligence.
Triggers
| When | Action |
|---|
| Founder asks "can we afford X" / "should we scale Y" | Full Analyst cycle + targeted collector tasks |
| Daily 06:00 UTC | Senior-agent ledgers → daily-6-pager (collection unattended) |
| Board meeting prep | Analyst FRAME on board brief → parallel collector fan-out |
| Margot research complete | Analyst EVALUATE before wiki-ingest or margot-sandcastle-bridge |
| Scout weekly run | Analyst triages top findings; rest archived |
Safety bindings
- PII: All founder-facing output through
pii-redactor before draft_review.
- HITL: Spend/refund/production gates stay with senior-agent dual-key ceilings — Analyst recommends; agents gate.
- Kill-switch:
TAO_SWARM_ENABLED=0 stops new collection tasks; in-flight Analyst evaluations complete and queue.
Verification
- Analyst FRAME on a test question ("Should we raise CMO ad-spend on Synthex?") produces sub-questions + confidence threshold before any collector runs.
- Collector returns include source + date; Analyst grades each claim.
- Final deliverable includes items 4–6 from Analyst §11.
wiki-query runs before margot-bridge on repeat topics.- Daily brief still assembles when Analyst loop skipped (metric-only path).
References
- Analyst doctrine:
analyst/SKILL.md
- Senior agents:
cfo, cmo-growth, cto, cs-tier1
- Daily brief:
daily-6-pager
- Wiki flywheel:
wiki-query, wiki-ingest
- External research:
margot-bridge, Scout (app/server/agents/scout.py)
