Cross-functional meeting summary & follow-up generator

Purpose

Turn raw, unstructured meeting notes into a clean recap that separates decisions from open items, assigns every action to a named owner with a deadline, and produces a ready-to-send follow-up message — so nothing agreed in a fitting, launch sync, or vendor call falls through the cracks between design, production, and marketing.

When to Use

Invoke this skill when the user asks to:

• Summarize notes from a design review, fitting, or sample sign-off meeting
• Turn a production or vendor call into a list of decisions and next steps
• Create action items with owners and deadlines from raw meeting notes
• Write a follow-up email or Slack recap after a cross-functional sync
• Clean up messy or bullet-dump notes into a shareable summary
• Track what was decided vs. what's still open across teams

Inputs Required

Before starting, collect:

• Raw notes: The actual meeting notes, transcript, or bullet dump — however messy
• Meeting type: e.g., fitting, design review, sample sign-off, launch sync, vendor call, weekly stand-up
• Attendees: Names and their function (design, production, merchandising, marketing, ops) — used to assign owners correctly
• Meeting date: For dating the recap and calculating relative deadlines
• Key calendar anchors (if relevant): Launch date, drop date, sample deadline, or PO cutoff the deadlines should map against
• Follow-up format: Email or Slack/Teams message
• Sensitivity note (optional): Anything that should be kept internal or softened for a vendor-facing recap

If attendees or owners are ambiguous in the notes, assign the most likely owner by function and flag it as "Owner to confirm." If no deadline is stated for an action, propose one based on the calendar anchors and mark it as suggested.

Instructions

Step 1: Parse and Classify the Raw Notes

Read the notes end to end, then sort every line into one of four buckets:

• Decision: Something the group agreed to and settled (e.g., "Going with the washed-black colorway for the hero tee")
• Open item: A question, disagreement, or dependency that was NOT resolved (e.g., "Still waiting on fabric weight from mill")
• Action item: Something a person must do (has a verb and an implied owner)
• Context/FYI: Background, updates, or discussion that isn't a decision or action

Discard duplicates and merge fragmented notes about the same topic into one clean line.

Step 2: Sharpen Decisions

For each decision, write a single declarative sentence in past tense stating what was agreed. Where the notes contain the reasoning, append a short "because" clause. Do not soften decisions into open items — if the group landed on it, it's a decision.

Step 3: Assign Owners and Deadlines to Actions

For every action item, produce a row with:

• Action: One clear verb-led sentence ("Send updated tech pack to the factory")
• Owner: A named person, mapped from the attendee list by function
• Deadline: A specific date. Derive relative dates ("by end of week") into an actual date using the meeting date. Anchor design/production deadlines against launch or sample cutoffs where provided.
• Status flag: Mark "Owner to confirm" or "(suggested deadline)" wherever inferred rather than stated

Every action must have exactly one owner. If notes assigned a task to "the team," assign it to the most senior relevant function and flag it.

Step 4: Frame Open Items as Questions Needing Resolution

Rephrase each open item as the specific unresolved question, name who owns getting the answer, and note what's blocked until it's resolved. Distinguish "blocking" open items (something can't move until answered) from "non-blocking" ones.

Step 5: Flag Risks and Timeline Pressure

Scan the decisions and open items for anything that threatens the calendar anchors — a blocked sample, a late vendor deliverable, a decision that pushes downstream work. Surface up to 3 risks with a one-line note on the impact.

Step 6: Draft the Follow-Up Message

Write a send-ready recap in the requested format (email or Slack). Lead with the 2–3 most important decisions, then the action table, then open items. Keep it scannable. Match tone to audience: internal teams get direct and brief; vendor-facing recaps stay professional and omit internal-only detail flagged in the inputs.

Output Format

• Structure: A structured recap document followed by a ready-to-send message
• Length: 400–700 words depending on meeting density
• Format: Headed sections; decisions as a numbered list; action items as a table (Action / Owner / Deadline / Status); open items as a labeled list; follow-up message as copy-paste-ready block
• Sections: Meeting header (type, date, attendees) → Decisions Made → Action Items (table) → Open Items → Risks & Timeline Watch → Follow-Up Message (email or Slack)
• Tone: Operationally precise and neutral — a coordinator's recap, not a narrative. No filler, no restating discussion for its own sake.

Quality Checklist

Before delivering output, verify:

• [ ] Every action item has exactly one named owner and a specific dated deadline
• [ ] Any inferred owner or deadline is flagged ("Owner to confirm" / "suggested deadline")
• [ ] Decisions and open items are cleanly separated — no unresolved item is listed as a decision
• [ ] Relative dates from the notes are converted to actual dates using the meeting date
• [ ] Open items are phrased as answerable questions and marked blocking vs. non-blocking
• [ ] The follow-up message is copy-paste ready in the requested format with no bracket placeholders

Notes

• The most common failure in apparel syncs is a decision made in a fitting that no one writes down — when in doubt, capture it as a decision and flag it for confirmation rather than dropping it.
• If the notes reference a sample round or PO cutoff, always anchor deadlines to it; "next week" is worthless when a drop date is fixed.
• For vendor-facing recaps, keep internal capacity, cost, or personnel discussion out of the send-ready message even if it appears in the notes.
• When notes are extremely sparse, produce the structure anyway and list what's missing under Open Items so the gaps are visible.

How to use this skill

This file is a Claude Code skill in Anthropic's standard format — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.

Installing in Claude Code:

• ~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md — auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)
• <your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md — auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)

Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.

Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:

1. Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
2. Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits

For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills