exec-recipe-review

name	exec-recipe-review
description	Review an exec-talk's README and produce an exec.recipe.yml. Uses a 3-agent collaborative council to analyze section weighting, executive audience fit, narrative arc, and action clarity. Always overwrites any existing recipe. Triggers: "review the talk", "create the recipe", "is this landing for execs", "section weighting", "coverage gap", "recipe", "executive framing".
infer	true

Exec Recipe Review Skill

Read the exec-talk README, analyze its structure with an Agent Council, and write exec.recipe.yml. This skill always produces a fresh recipe — it does not preserve or patch an existing one. The recipe is the authoritative input for the Slide Generator when building exec-talk decks.

Key Constraints:

• Max 4 sections — Council should consolidate, not expand. Exec talks are tighter than tech talks. Each section earns ~8–12 slides in a 30–45 min briefing.
• Executive audience is the filter — Every section must be evaluated through the lens of a CXO, VP, or transformation lead. If a section teaches implementation, it needs to be reframed as business implications or cut.
• Slide generator ensures consistency — Once you commit a recipe, the Slide Generator agent generates all slides using the cockpit HTML template system with uniform structure. Focus the council on decision clarity and business credibility, not slide-level details.
• Recipe schema — Read .github/skills/exec-recipe-review/EXEC-RECIPE-TEMPLATE.yml to understand all valid fields before writing the output file.

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When to Invoke This Skill

• After a new exec-talk README is complete
• User wants to revise section structure, business framing, or action clarity
• User questions whether a section earns its airtime ("are we spending too long on X")
• User notices a business angle is missing ("we never explain the cost of not acting")
• User asks to "review the talk" or check if the structure matches the executive audience

Not for: Minor wording tweaks, slide-level fixes, or tech-talk decks (use deck-recipe-review for those).

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Pre-Flight: Gather Source Material

Before dispatching the council, read BOTH of these. The council prompt must include the full context — agents cannot read files themselves.

1. exec-talks/<topic>/README.md                                           — full section content + key metrics
2. .github/skills/exec-recipe-review/EXEC-RECIPE-TEMPLATE.yml            — recipe schema (all valid fields)

Do not read the existing slides/exec-talks/<topic>.md. The recipe is the authoritative spec for the slide generator — existing slides will be overwritten and should not constrain the council's reasoning.

From these, extract:

• The ## H2 headings from the README — these are the candidate sections
• Target audience + talk duration (from README frontmatter or intro)
• The core business question or decision the talk is designed to drive
• Key metrics, risk frames, and business moments
• The specific concern the user raised (if invoked manually)

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Council Dispatch: Phase 1 (All 3 Parallel)

Dispatch all three agents simultaneously. Each gets the SAME full context block (see template below) with a different cognitive role.

Context Block Template

TASK: [One-sentence description of the structural question]

TALK: [title], [duration], audience: [audience list]
CORE QUESTION: "[the business question or decision the talk drives]"

CANDIDATE SECTIONS (from README ## headings):
1. "[Section Name]" — [2-line description of what it covers]
2. ...

CONSTRAINTS:
- Max 4 sections (no exceptions — consolidate, don't expand)
- Audience is executives: every section must land as business implication, not implementation detail
- Slide generator will apply cockpit HTML templates for structural consistency

USER CONCERN: [Exact concern — what's taking too much space / what's missing / what's not landing]

KNOWN MATERIAL:
- [Any key metrics, business models, or frameworks already in the README]
- [Any competitive data, cost figures, or risk framing that exists]

Alpha Prompt (Deep Explorer)

You are Alpha on an Agent Council (Collaborative mode).
Your role: Generate a comprehensive, creative response.

[CONTEXT BLOCK]

Analyze: Is the current section structure the best use of this talk's time with a C-suite audience?
What should change and why?

1. Write a thorough response exploring the problem space deeply
2. Add '## Open Questions': what needs to be answered before slides can be written?
3. Add '## Wild Ideas': at least one unconventional structural approach
Be expansive — breadth over polish.

Beta Prompt (Practical Builder)

You are Beta on an Agent Council (Collaborative mode).
Your role: Ground the problem in reality while finding opportunities.

[CONTEXT BLOCK]

Analyze: Is the current section structure the best use of this talk's time with a C-suite audience?

1. Write your response focused on practical, validated approaches
2. Add '## Building Blocks': what business content already exists that could fill gaps?
3. Add '## Combinations': what sections could be merged or reframed for executive credibility?
Output a concrete recommended sectionOrder with emphasis levels and rationale.
Be constructive. Find opportunities, not just constraints.

Gamma Prompt (Elegant Minimalist)

You are Gamma on an Agent Council (Collaborative mode).
Your role: Find the most elegant, minimal solution and open new angles.

[CONTEXT BLOCK]

Analyze: What is the single structural change that would most sharpen this talk for executives?

1. Write the simplest viable restructuring
2. Add '## Alternative Angles': reframe the problem from 2 different executive perspectives
3. Add '## What If': propose one boundary-pushing variation (e.g., reorder to lead with risk/urgency)
Be concrete about the new sectionOrder and what changes in highlightMoments.

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Council Dispatch: Phase 2 (All 3 Parallel Improve)

After all three Phase 1 responses return, dispatch all three again simultaneously. Each agent gets the other two drafts and writes an IMPROVED version.

Key instruct for each: "Steal the best ideas from the other two shamelessly. Look for novel syntheses. Keep your natural strength but enrich it. Maintain the executive audience lens — if an idea adds implementation depth, reject it."

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Council Dispatch: Phase 3 (Orchestrator Synthesis)

Single orchestrator prompt with all three Phase 2 improved versions. Ask for:

1. Verdict (2-3 sentences) — the core structural problem and fix for this executive audience
2. arcToc — one line ≤ 80 chars, section names joined by → (use "The X" naming pattern if appropriate)
3. arcNarrative — a prose paragraph: what each section establishes for the executive, where credibility and urgency peak, and why the ordering drives a decision
4. Concrete sectionOrder with sectionModes (emphasis + one-line note per section)
5. Updated highlightMoments list — what to drop, what to add (quantified business metrics preferred)
6. One open decision — the single thing the user must resolve before slides can be generated

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Mapping Output to exec.recipe.yml

Write the complete exec.recipe.yml file — all fields. Source them as follows:

Field	Source
version	Always 1
deck.title	README H1 title
deck.subtitle	README subtitle line or guiding question, condensed
deck.tagline	README one-line promise / focus (from intro block)
deck.arcToc	Council Phase 3 output
deck.arcNarrative	Council Phase 3 output
deck.sectionOrder	Council Phase 3 output
deck.sectionModes	Council Phase 3 output
deck.highlightMoments	Council Phase 3 output
deck.preamble	Always [{ src: "./exec-spine.md" }] for exec talks — every exec deck imports the shared series context slide. Do NOT set to [].
deck.appendix	[] unless the talk has explicit appendix content

Use EXEC-RECIPE-TEMPLATE.yml (read during pre-flight) as the schema for field names, YAML structure, and inline comments. If there is an open decision from the council, append it as a YAML comment at the end of the file: # OPEN DECISION: [question] — [paths and consequences].

Post-Recipe Workflow:

1. Commit updated exec.recipe.yml
2. Invoke Slide Generator agent with the exec-talk path
3. Slide Generator uses the cockpit HTML template system to create consistent slides for all sections
4. No manual slide editing needed — the template ensures title slides, overview, section openers, closers, and references are auto-generated

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Quality Checks Before Committing

• Max 4 sections — Council output has exactly 4 or fewer sections. If more, consolidate.
• Every section in the new sectionOrder exists as a ## heading in the README
• No section has been marked high that contains primarily implementation detail — reframe or cut
• arcToc is a single line ≤ 80 chars using → separators between section names
• arcNarrative is a prose paragraph explaining the sequencing logic for an executive audience
• The open decision is documented in the file — don't silently absorb it
• highlightMoments list is 3-5 items with quantified metrics where possible
• No highlightMoments entry describes a tool command, code pattern, or implementation step
• After approval: Slide Generator agent will regenerate all slides using the cockpit HTML system — you don't need to update individual slides
• deck.preamble is [{ src: "./exec-spine.md" }] — never [] for exec talks

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Common Executive Talk Anti-Patterns

Anti-Pattern	Signal	Exec Fix
Implementation section	Section covers a tool, CLI, or configuration step rather than a business outcome	Reframe as "What this means for your platform team" or absorb into the stakes section
Missing urgency	No section answers "why now" or "cost of not acting"	Add a stakes/imperative section before the action close
Passive closing section	Last section = "Resources" or "References" — leaders leave with no decision	Reframe as "What Leadership Must Authorize" or "Three Decisions This Quarter"
Metric-free talk	Key points are directional but not quantified	Audit README for any numbers; if none exist, flag as an open decision
All sections equal weight	All high or all medium	Force a ranking — the credibility peak and the urgency section should be highest emphasis
Too many sections	5+ sections in a 30-min exec briefing	Consolidate: the opening frame and the system/model can often be one section
Audience confusion	Section mixes exec-level framing with developer-level detail	Cut the detail; add a speaker note that "detail available on request"

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Example Invocations

• "we're spending two sections on the operating model — review the exec talk and see if that's the best use of time"
• "we never explain the cost of not acting — is it worth adding a section?"
• "council: does the agentic-delivery talk structure land for a CXO audience?"
• "review the exec recipe before we regenerate slides"
• "is this the best use of our time with VPs who only have 30 minutes?"