Purpose
Produce a ready-to-paste production tracker that keeps every concurrent shoot, asset, and delivery deadline in one accountable view — so a producer knows at a glance which SKUs are shot, which are stuck in retouching, and which are at risk of missing a launch date. Solves the chaos of managing overlapping shoots across scattered spreadsheets, Slack threads, and mental notes.
When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Build a production tracker for multiple concurrent product shoots
- Track asset status from capture through retouch to final delivery
- Update an existing tracker with new shoots, status changes, or delivery dates
- Flag which deliverables are at risk of missing a launch or campaign deadline
- Organize a studio calendar across photographers, sets, and product categories
- Create a shared source of truth for a production team in Notion or Google Sheets
Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- Shoots in scope: List of shoots with product/SKU count, category, and shoot type (e-comm flat, on-model, lifestyle, video)
- Delivery deadlines: Final asset due date for each shoot or SKU, plus the tied launch/campaign date if different
- Asset pipeline stages: The team's actual workflow stages (default: Scheduled → Shot → Selected → Retouching → Approved → Delivered)
- Deliverable specs per shoot: Number and type of final assets required per SKU (e.g., 5 e-comm angles + 1 hero + 1 video)
- Team/resource assignments: Who owns each stage — photographer, retoucher, approver
- Tracker format: Google Sheets or Notion
- Current status (for updates only): Existing tracker data or a summary of what has changed
If pipeline stages or deliverable specs aren't provided, use the defaults above and note the assumption. If format isn't specified, default to Google Sheets.
Instructions
Step 1: Confirm Scope and Format
Restate the shoots in scope, the delivery deadlines, and the chosen format in one line each. For updates, identify what changed (new shoots added, statuses advanced, deadlines shifted) before rebuilding — never silently drop existing rows.
Step 2: Build the Master Shoot Schedule
Create a top-level view of all shoots, one row per shoot:
- Columns: Shoot Name | Category | Shoot Type | SKU Count | Shoot Date | Photographer | Set/Location | Final Delivery Date | Launch Date | Status
- Sort by Final Delivery Date (soonest first) so the most urgent shoot is always at the top
- Status here is a rollup of the shoot's overall stage (earliest incomplete stage across its SKUs)
Step 3: Build the Asset Status Pipeline
Create the detailed tracking grid, one row per SKU (or per asset if the team tracks at asset level):
- Columns: SKU/Asset | Shoot Name | Deliverables Required | Stage | Owner | Days to Deadline | Flag
- Stage moves through the pipeline stages from Step 1 inputs
- Days to Deadline = Final Delivery Date minus today (for Sheets, provide the formula:
=[Delivery Date cell]-TODAY()) - Flag logic:
- 🔴 At Risk: Days to Deadline ≤ 3 AND Stage is before "Approved"
- 🟡 Watch: Days to Deadline ≤ 5 AND Stage is before "Retouching"
- 🟢 On Track: everything else
- ✅ Done: Stage = Delivered
Step 4: Build the Deliverables Checklist
For each shoot, list the exact deliverable count required versus captured/delivered so nothing ships short:
- Format: Shoot Name | Deliverable Type | Required | Completed | Remaining
- Break down by asset type (e-comm angles, hero, detail, on-model, video) per the deliverable specs input
Step 5: Build the Deadline & Risk Summary
A short standing summary section that surfaces the state of the board:
- This Week's Deliveries: shoots/SKUs due in the next 7 days
- At-Risk Items: every 🔴 flagged row with the reason (stage vs. days remaining)
- Bottleneck Check: which pipeline stage holds the most SKUs — the likely current chokepoint
- Open Owners: any row missing an assigned owner
Step 6: Format for the Chosen Tool
- Google Sheets: Deliver each view as a tab-labeled table with column headers, include live formulas for Days to Deadline and any counts, and note recommended conditional-formatting rules for the Flag column.
- Notion: Deliver as database-style tables with suggested property types (Select for Stage, Person for Owner, Date for deadlines, Formula for Days to Deadline) and recommended views (Board grouped by Stage, Calendar by Delivery Date, filtered "At Risk" view).
Output Format
- Structure: Five sections in order — Master Shoot Schedule, Asset Status Pipeline, Deliverables Checklist, Deadline & Risk Summary, plus format-specific setup notes
- Length: Scales with shoot count; tables plus 150–300 words of setup/summary guidance
- Format: Tables (paste-ready for Sheets or Notion) with a short prose risk summary
- Sections: Scope confirmation → Master Shoot Schedule → Asset Status Pipeline → Deliverables Checklist → Deadline & Risk Summary → Tool setup notes
- Tone: Operational and no-nonsense — a producer's working document, not a report. Every column earns its place.
Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] Every shoot in scope appears in the Master Shoot Schedule (count them against the input list)
- [ ] The Master Schedule is sorted by Final Delivery Date, soonest first
- [ ] Every SKU/asset row has a Stage, Owner, Days to Deadline value, and Flag
- [ ] Flag logic is applied consistently — no 🔴 items missing from the At-Risk summary
- [ ] Deliverables Checklist Required counts match the deliverable specs provided per shoot
- [ ] Format-specific setup notes match the chosen tool (formulas for Sheets, property types and views for Notion)
- [ ] For updates: no existing shoots or SKUs were dropped, and changed statuses are reflected
Notes
- The single most valuable feature is the At-Risk flag — producers scan for red before anything else, so keep that logic tight and honest.
- Track at SKU level for e-comm flat/on-model shoots and at asset level only when a single product generates many distinct final deliverables (e.g., a hero video with cutdowns).
- The Bottleneck Check usually reveals retouching as the chokepoint on DTC production calendars — surfacing it lets the producer reallocate before it becomes a missed deadline.
- For recurring updates, ask the user to paste the current tracker so statuses advance cleanly rather than resetting the board each cycle.
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