Purpose
Produce a single source-of-truth project brief that gets Product, Marketing, Finance, and Content pointed at the same objective — defining what success looks like, who owns each workstream, what depends on what, and when each milestone lands. Eliminates the ambiguity that stalls cross-team initiatives in their first two weeks.
When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Kick off a multi-team initiative, launch, or program
- Write a project brief, project charter, or launch plan
- Align stakeholders across Product, Marketing, Finance, and Content
- Define workstreams, owners, and timelines for an initiative
- Turn a vague executive ask into a structured, ownable plan
- Get a cross-functional team on the same page before work starts
Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- Initiative name: The working title of the project or launch
- Objective: The business outcome this initiative is meant to drive (1–2 sentences)
- Target date: The launch date or hard deadline
- Teams involved: Which functions are participating (e.g., Product, Marketing, Finance, Content — plus any others)
- Named owners: Who leads each function, if known (names or roles)
- Known constraints: Budget ceiling, headcount, fixed dates, dependencies on other projects
- Success metrics: How the team will know it worked (revenue, adoption, pipeline, engagement, etc.)
If named owners or success metrics are missing, assign owners by role and propose 2–3 candidate metrics, flagging them for the user to confirm.
Instructions
Step 1: Frame the Objective and Problem Statement
Convert the raw ask into a sharp framing:
- Problem statement: 2–3 sentences describing the current state and why it matters now
- Objective: One sentence stating the outcome, written in outcome language (not activity language) — "increase trial-to-paid conversion by 15%," not "launch a new onboarding flow"
- In scope / Out of scope: Two short lists that prevent scope creep before it starts. If the user hasn't defined boundaries, propose defaults and mark them for confirmation.
Step 2: Define Success Metrics and Guardrails
- Primary metric: The one number that determines whether this initiative succeeded
- Secondary metrics: 2–3 supporting indicators, each tied to a function
- Guardrail metrics: What must NOT get worse (e.g., churn, support volume, CAC)
- For each metric, note the baseline (or "TBD — needs measurement") and the target
Step 3: Break the Work into Workstreams
Organize the initiative into 4–6 workstreams, typically mapped to the functions involved. For each workstream:
- Workstream name
- Owner: The single accountable person or role
- Objective: What this workstream must deliver
- Key deliverables: 2–4 concrete outputs
- Dependencies: What this workstream needs from others before it can proceed
Common workstream shapes for a cross-functional launch: Product/Build, Go-to-Market/Messaging, Content/Enablement, Finance/Pricing & Forecasting, and a Program/Coordination stream.
Step 4: Assign Ownership with a RACI Grid
Build a RACI table covering the major decisions and deliverables:
- R (Responsible): does the work
- A (Accountable): one person per row, owns the outcome
- C (Consulted): weighs in before decisions
- I (Informed): kept in the loop Enforce one Accountable per row — flag any deliverable that has no clear owner.
Step 5: Build the Milestone Timeline
Working backward from the target date, define 5–8 milestones:
- Milestone name
- Owner
- Target date (relative to the deadline — e.g., "T-6 weeks")
- Exit criteria: The specific condition that marks the milestone complete Include at least one cross-functional checkpoint (a gate where all teams sync before proceeding).
Step 6: Map Dependencies and Risks
- Critical path: Name the sequence of dependencies that, if delayed, delays the whole initiative
- Risk register: 3–5 risks, each with likelihood (High/Med/Low), impact (High/Med/Low), and a mitigation or owner
- Open questions: Decisions that must be resolved before the plan can execute, each assigned to a decision owner and a by-when date
Step 7: Establish Cadence and Decision Log
- Meeting cadence: What syncs happen, how often, and who attends (e.g., weekly workstream standup, biweekly steering review)
- Status reporting: What format and where (e.g., weekly written update to a shared doc)
- Decision log: A running table for decisions made, with date, decision, and who made it — so the team stops relitigating settled questions
Output Format
- Structure: A structured document with clearly labeled sections; RACI and timeline rendered as tables
- Length: 900–1,400 words
- Format: Structured brief — headers, tables for RACI/timeline/risks, short prose for framing sections
- Sections: Objective & Problem Statement → Success Metrics & Guardrails → Workstreams → RACI Grid → Milestone Timeline → Dependencies & Risks → Cadence & Decision Log
- Tone: Program manager — direct, decisive, ownership-focused. No hedging; every deliverable has a name attached.
Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] The objective is written in outcome language, not activity language
- [ ] There are 4–6 workstreams, each with a single named owner
- [ ] Every RACI row has exactly one Accountable party
- [ ] The timeline has 5–8 milestones, each with exit criteria and a target date relative to the deadline
- [ ] The risk register lists 3–5 risks, each with likelihood, impact, and a mitigation owner
- [ ] Every open question has a decision owner and a by-when date
- [ ] Scope boundaries (in/out) are explicitly stated
Notes
- The most common failure mode is a deliverable with no Accountable owner — the RACI grid exists to force that resolution before kickoff.
- If the target date is fixed and the timeline doesn't fit, surface it: recommend either cutting scope or moving the date rather than silently compressing the plan.
- For initiatives with unusually high uncertainty, add a "kill criteria" note under Success Metrics — the conditions under which the team should stop, not just the conditions for success.
- Working backward from the deadline (Step 5) consistently produces more realistic timelines than planning forward from today.
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:
- Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
- 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