Consulting Progress Report

Visual handoff

When this workflow creates or requests a rendered artifact, use recoup-internal-consulting-tasteful-design and the selected workspace DESIGN.md. House identity is Recoup Sky; explicit client/artist branding wins. Pass brand/version, expression, format, reference IDs and output folder to the media skill. Its bundled package supplies exact fonts/logos. Keep new derivatives in the current identity while preserving historical evidence. Save editable source and brand.lock.json with the deliverable. Ordinary text outputs stay text; a script is not a rendered video. Existing data dashboards retain their canonical Recoup CSS during data updates. Do not publish private client work to the public Brand Studio.

Workspace: use the selected project and its AGENTS.md; keep existing entity folders and Reality headings. Business paths below are relative to that project. Bundled resources are relative to this installed skill; sibling capabilities resolve by their installed names. Never search another private checkout for missing inputs. Use workspace identity, audience, pricing, and DESIGN.md fonts.

Write the recurring client update from verified work and observed outcomes. Match the agreed reporting cadence and the sponsor's needs; keep it short enough to read on a phone.

Inputs

Use the selected workspace and one client only. Read its AGENTS.md, executed agreement, 04-delivery/account-activity-log.md, recent reports, client-facing running lists, and primary sources in meetings/transcripts/ and emails/. Preserve any existing Reality heading, including an owner-specific title. Confirmed owner statements outrank inferred account state.

Read the installed recoup-internal-consulting-copy-writer skill and its relevant references, including the full anti-slop reference. Use the workspace's voice preferences. A remembered summary of a writing guide is not a substitute for the rules it contains.

For a complete format example, read references/fictional-progress-report.md relative to this skill. Every company, person, figure, and event in that example is invented. Never use it as client evidence.

Evidence and client boundaries

• Verify every number, attribution, date, state claim, and commercial term against a primary source. AI meeting summaries are leads; use the verbatim transcript, email, executed agreement, or live field.
• Separate shipped code, live availability, observed usage, and measured impact. One does not prove another.
• Qualitative estimates must be attributed and labeled as estimates. Missing outcome measurements stay missing; record who can provide them in the internal notes rather than inventing a savings figure.
• Reconcile corrections and conflicting counts before publishing. Log user-confirmed facts back to the account record with their provenance. Do not hide an unresolved disagreement behind a precise number.
• Only include actual account spending and approved controls when relevant. This skill supplies no budget, spending cap, fee, default allowance, or promise of a future measurement.
• Keep internal expansion notes, private collaborator assessments, and other clients' records out.
• Ownership, support terms, exclusivity, and scope must match the executed agreement. A new opportunity belongs in a separate proposal, not an implied commitment in a progress update.

Report shape

Adapt this shape to the client; omit unchanged sections and use the account's template when it exists.

1. Greeting and one sentence identifying the reporting period.
2. What changed: a few concrete before → after bullets. Lead with the strongest observed result.
3. Quick notes: useful context such as rollout status, measured usage, or an agreed spending policy.
4. Next period: actual commitments with owners; distinguish proposed work from committed work.
5. Where this is heading: a brief, client-relevant explanation of deferred work. Label it unstarted and uncommitted. Do not turn a vendor meeting into a story about winning more scope for yourself.
6. Needs: only actionable requests, routed to the person who can resolve each one.

Use stakeholder goals when they help explain a change. Repeating the same goal every report becomes noise. Report the delta. Keep the main body near one page; supporting evidence stays in internal notes. Use plain text system names in email output: Markdown backticks often paste as literal characters.

Process

1. Backfill missing activity from primary evidence, then assemble a cited claim list.
2. Draft in clients/<client>/04-delivery/progress-reports/<date>-report-<number>.md, marked DRAFT.
3. Apply the copywriter's full anti-slop pass, including patterns requiring reading rather than search.
4. Review through the actual sponsor's needs using recoup-internal-consulting-copy-reviewer. Any simulated reader feedback is an editing aid, never a quote from the sponsor or evidence of their opinion.
5. Make a fresh-context condense pass: remove repetition, combine related bullets, and catch conflicting states. Use a separate reviewer when available; otherwise perform and label a second editing pass.
6. Incorporate the user's corrections and record newly supplied facts with provenance. Commit meaningful changes according to the workspace's existing convention.
7. Prepare the requested delivery format. A clean HTML paste source, short video script, or Slack variant is optional. Default to a draft; send only when the user has authorized that recipient and content.
8. After a confirmed send, retain the as-sent text and receipt, update the activity log, due date, commitments, and next actions. Never mark SENT from a prepared draft alone.
9. Improve the client template for client-specific preferences and this skill for reusable lessons.