Executive Summary
Generates an executive-focused summary document from Sherpy planning artifacts. Provides non-technical stakeholders with a clear understanding of the business problem, solution approach, timeline, and success criteria.
Usage
/executive-summary [base-directory]If no directory is provided, auto-detect by looking for requirements/business-requirements.yaml in the current directory.
If not found, prompt the user: "Where are your planning artifacts located?"
Wait for the user to provide a path before proceeding.
Required Artifacts
The skill auto-discovers these files from the standard Sherpy folder structure:
| File | Location | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
business-requirements.yaml | requirements/ | Business problem, features, success metrics |
technical-requirements.yaml | requirements/ | Technical context, risks, dependencies |
timeline.yaml | delivery/ | Delivery timeline and milestones |
Process
Step 1: Determine Base Directory and Scan for Required Artifacts
If no directory parameter was provided, check if requirements/business-requirements.yaml exists in the current directory.
- If found, use current directory as
base_directory - If not found, prompt: "Where are your planning artifacts located?" and wait for user response
Once base_directory is determined, scan for required files in standard locations. Display status:
## Executive Summary — Dependency Check
Scanning for required artifacts...
✓ requirements/business-requirements.yaml
✓ requirements/technical-requirements.yaml
✓ delivery/timeline.yaml
3 of 3 required files found.Legend: ✓ found · ✗ missing
Step 2: Handle Missing Files
If any required files are missing, ask:
"Missing required files: timeline.yaml Options: 1. Continue with partial data — Generate summary with available information (missing sections will be marked as [Not Available]) 2. Exit — Complete missing artifacts first (run /delivery-timeline to generate timeline.yaml) What would you like to do?"
Wait for user response:
- If user chooses 1 (Continue): Proceed with available data, mark missing sections clearly
- If user chooses 2 (Exit): Display which skills to run and exit gracefully
Step 3: Load and Parse Artifacts
Read all available files and extract:
From business-requirements.yaml:
- Project name and description
- Business goals and problem statement
- Target users and personas
- Core features and capabilities
- Success criteria and KPIs
- Scope and constraints
From technical-requirements.yaml:
- Solution architecture overview
- Technical risks and dependencies
- External integrations
- Compliance and security requirements
- Resource requirements (team, infrastructure)
From timeline.yaml (if available):
- Milestone delivery dates
- Production deploy date
- Total project duration
- QA and review phases
Step 4: Generate Executive Summary
Create summaries/executive-summary.md.
The output document includes: header (timestamp, project name), Business Problem (current state, business impact), Solution Overview (approach, benefits), Key Features & Capabilities (grouped by category), Timeline & Milestones (table with dates), Success Metrics (primary and secondary), Risks & Dependencies (risk table, external dependencies, assumptions), Resource Requirements (team, infrastructure, timeline commitment), and Conclusion.
See references/output-spec.md for the complete document specification with section structure, writing guidelines, and formatting rules.
See references/example.md for a full example.
Step 5: Handle Missing Data Gracefully
When required files are missing, insert clear placeholders:
## Timeline & Milestones
[Not Available - `timeline.yaml` not found. Run `/delivery-timeline` to generate delivery timeline.]
**Estimated Duration:** [If milestones.yaml exists, sum milestone estimates]
**Target Completion:** TBDOr for partial data:
## Risks & Dependencies
### Technical Risks
[Not Available - detailed risk analysis requires `technical-requirements.yaml`]
### External Dependencies
- [List any dependencies mentioned in available documents]Step 6: Confirmation
After generating the summary, display:
## Executive Summary Generated ✓
**Location:** summaries/executive-summary.md
**Size:** [file size]
Summary includes:
✓ Business problem statement
✓ Solution overview
✓ Key features & capabilities
✓ Timeline & milestones
✓ Success metrics
✓ Risks & dependencies
✓ Resource requirements
The summary is ready for stakeholder review and communication.Content Extraction Logic
Business Problem Section
Source: business-requirements.yaml
Extract from these fields:
descriptionoroverview- Overall contextbusiness_goals.primary_goal- Main business driverproblem_statement- Explicit problem descriptionwhyorrationale- Why this matters
Structure:
- Current State - What exists today, what's not working
- Business Impact - Costs, inefficiencies, risks of status quo
Writing Guidelines:
- Use business language, not technical jargon
- Quantify impact when possible (costs, time, users affected)
- Focus on business value, not technical challenges
- Keep it concrete and specific
Example:
"Customer support teams currently lack visibility into real-time system status, requiring manual checks across multiple dashboards and resulting in delayed incident response. This fragmentation leads to an average 45-minute MTTR and costs approximately $150K annually in lost productivity and customer churn."
Solution Overview Section
Source: business-requirements.yaml + technical-requirements.yaml
Extract from:
solution_overvieworproposed_solutionarchitecture.approach- High-level technical approach (translate to business terms)key_capabilities- What the system will do
Structure:
- Approach - What we're building (non-technical)
- Benefits - How it solves the problem
Writing Guidelines:
- Translate technical concepts to business value
- Focus on outcomes, not implementation
- Explain how the solution addresses the problem
- Highlight differentiators or key advantages
Example:
"We will build a unified monitoring dashboard that aggregates system health metrics, alerts, and incident history in a single interface. The solution enables support teams to identify and respond to incidents within minutes, reducing MTTR by 70% and improving customer satisfaction."
Key Features Section
Source: business-requirements.yaml
Extract from:
functional_requirements- Specific capabilitiesfeaturesorcapabilities- Feature listuser_stories- User-facing functionality
Categorization:
- Group related features together
- Use business-friendly category names
- Focus on what users can do, not how it works
Categories might include:
- User Management
- Data & Analytics
- Integrations
- Automation
- Reporting
- Security & Compliance
Format each feature:
- **[Feature Name]** - [Business value / what it enables]Example:
### Monitoring & Alerting
- **Real-Time Status Dashboard** - View system health across all services at a glance
- **Smart Alert Routing** - Automatically notify the right team based on alert severity and service ownership
- **Historical Trends** - Identify patterns and predict potential issues before they impact usersTimeline & Milestones Section
Source: timeline.yaml (preferred) or milestones.yaml (fallback)
From timeline.yaml:
- Extract
workback.project_start - Extract
workback.production_deploy - Extract milestone dates from the timeline
- Extract QA rounds and durations
From milestones.yaml (if timeline unavailable):
- Sum
estimated_durationfor total - List milestone sequence
- Note this is preliminary without QA/PR time
Presentation:
- Use a table for clear milestone visualization
- Highlight key delivery dates
- Show development vs QA vs deploy phases
- Make it scannable
Success Metrics Section
Source: business-requirements.yaml
Extract from:
success_criteria- Explicit success measuresmeasurable_outcomes- Quantifiable targetskpisormetrics- Tracking measures
Categorize as:
- Primary Metrics - Must-achieve targets (often tied to business goals)
- Secondary Metrics - Nice-to-have improvements
Format:
- **[Metric Name]:** [Target value] - [What this measures and why it matters]Example:
### Primary Metrics
- **Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR):** < 15 minutes - Measures incident response speed and system reliability
- **Customer Satisfaction Score:** > 4.5/5.0 - Indicates user satisfaction with support responseRisks & Dependencies Section
Source: technical-requirements.yaml
Extract from:
risks- Technical and project risksexternal_dependencies- Third-party services, APIs, teamsconstraints- Limitations or requirementsassumptions- What we're assuming to be true
Risk Table Columns:
- Risk - Clear description of what could go wrong
- Impact - High/Medium/Low severity
- Mitigation - How we're addressing it
Dependencies Format:
- **[Dependency Name]:** [What it provides, who owns it, current status]Example:
### External Dependencies
- **Stripe Payment API:** Payment processing service, owned by Finance team, production-ready
- **SendGrid Email Service:** Transactional emails, third-party SaaS, requires account setup (in progress)Resource Requirements Section
Source: technical-requirements.yaml + business-requirements.yaml + timeline.yaml
Extract from:
resourcessection in technical requirementsteamorstakeholdersin business requirements- Timeline duration for capacity calculation
Structure:
- Team - Roles, size, time commitment
- Infrastructure - Key technical resources needed
- Timeline Commitment - Total duration and capacity
Example:
### Team
- **Development Team:** 3 engineers (2 backend, 1 frontend), full-time for 8 weeks
- **QA/Testing:** 1 QA engineer, 2 weeks during QA phases
- **Product:** 0.5 FTE for requirements and acceptance
- **DevOps:** 0.25 FTE for infrastructure setup and deployment
### Infrastructure
- PostgreSQL database (AWS RDS)
- Redis cache cluster
- Kubernetes cluster (existing infrastructure)
- Estimated cloud costs: $500/monthError Handling
File Not Found
If a required file doesn't exist:
- Check standard
docs/locations first - Check root directory as fallback
- Display exact path attempted
- Suggest which Sherpy skill generates the file
Invalid YAML
If a file can't be parsed:
- Display clear parsing error
- Show file path and line number
- Suggest regenerating the file
Missing Required Fields
If expected fields are missing:
- Use "[Not Specified]" placeholders
- Continue with available data
- Note missing information in confirmation
Output Location
Always output to: {base_directory}/summaries/executive-summary.md
Create directory if it doesn't exist:
mkdir -p {base_directory}/summariesWriting Style Guidelines
Tone
- Professional and clear
- Non-technical language
- Focus on business value
- Confident but realistic about risks
Audience
- C-level executives
- Product managers
- Business stakeholders
- Non-technical decision makers
Avoid
- Technical jargon without explanation
- Implementation details
- Code or command references
- Acronyms without definition
Include
- Business impact and value
- Clear timelines and commitments
- Measurable outcomes
- Risk acknowledgment with mitigation
Integration with Sherpy Flow
This skill is designed to be called as the last part of Step 10 in /sherpy-flow, after /developer-summary. When invoked by sherpy-flow, it receives base_directory as a parameter. It should:
- Run after all planning artifacts are complete
- Auto-discover files from the organized folder structure within
base_directory - Not fail if optional sections are missing
- Generate the summary without user interaction when all files are present
Examples
See references/example.md for a complete sample executive summary.
Related Skills
/developer-summary- Generate developer-focused technical summary/sherpy-flow- Full planning workflow (includes this skill at the end)/business-requirements-interview- Generates business-requirements.yaml/technical-requirements-interview- Generates technical-requirements.yaml/delivery-timeline- Generates timeline.yaml