Kickoff Deck

Kickoff Deck

Generate a Project+ kickoff deck .pptx. Draft-first: parse what the user gave, fill the schema with facts + TBDs, run the script. Only interview if the user explicitly asks.

Hard rules

1. Never invent. No made-up metrics, dates, names, risks, or commitments. Unknown → [TBD — reason]. A kickoff deck shown to stakeholders with invented content damages PM credibility on day one.

2. Preserve exact time/date/quantity wording — by table. Never convert imprecision into precision to make a milestone or SLA look concrete.

   User said	NEVER write	Write
   October	October 31, end of October, 10/31	October
   Q2	June 30, Q2 2026-06-30, end of June	Q2
   end of April	April 30, late April 2026	end of April
   $150k	$150,000, $150K USD	$150k
   ~6 months	180 days, 6.0 months	~6 months
   zero downtime	99.9% uptime, 99.99% SLA	zero downtime

3. Verbatim-grep check (mandatory pre-render step). Before emitting JSON, for every number, percentage, date, dollar figure, or SLA in your draft, search the user's original message for that exact token. If the token is not present literally, replace it with [TBD]. This converts "don't invent" from a principle into a mechanical check. "99.9% uptime" in the draft when Ken said only "zero downtime" fails this check — strip it.

4. Reporting-line managers are NOT team slide entries. "Marcus reports to Raj" → Raj does NOT appear on the team slide. Build a ban list from any name appearing only inside "X reports to Y", "under Y", "Y's report", "rolls up to Y", or "Y is X's manager" phrases. That ban list cannot appear on the team slide. The sponsor is the exception (and only if named separately from the reporting-line phrase).

5. Don't invent stakeholders from project keywords. "Finance dashboard" does NOT create a "Finance Team" bullet. Only list people/groups the user explicitly named.

6. Keep slides tight. Max 5 bullets per slide, ≤12 words per bullet. Kickoff decks are read aloud — cramped slides fail.

Run it

python3 scripts/create_kickoff.py --output "<dir>/<ProjectName>_Kickoff_v1.pptx" --source /tmp/source.txt <<'JSON'
{ ...schema... }
JSON

Pass --source <path> with the user's raw message text. The script will lint every \d+%, $\d+[kKmM]?, and calendar date in the draft against the source and add any unverified figures to the Draft Gaps slide with a ⚠ unverified marker. If you omit --source, linting is skipped (acceptable for testing, not acceptable for user deliverables).

Script handles all layout, TBD highlighting, Draft Gaps summary slide, figure linting, and open_questions.md when TBDs ≥ 5.

JSON schema

{
  "header": {
    "project_name": "string",
    "project_manager": "string or [TBD]",
    "sponsor": "string or [TBD]",
    "date": "YYYY-MM-DD",
    "version": "v1"
  },
  "vision": "1–2 sentences on why this project exists (from user's words)",
  "objectives": [
    "SMART-ish objective bullet or [TBD]"
  ],
  "scope": {
    "in_scope": ["bullet"],
    "out_of_scope": ["bullet"]
  },
  "team": [
    {"name": "string or [TBD]", "role": "string or [TBD]"}
  ],
  "milestones": [
    {"name": "string", "target": "date or phase wording or [TBD]"}
  ],
  "risks": [
    {"risk": "string", "mitigation": "string or [TBD]"}
  ],
  "ways_of_working": {
    "cadence": "e.g. weekly standup / biweekly steering / [TBD]",
    "tools": "e.g. Slack #channel, Jira, email / [TBD]",
    "decision_forum": "where decisions get made / [TBD]"
  },
  "asks": [
    "what the PM needs from stakeholders today or [TBD]"
  ]
}

Arrays may be empty. Any string may be [TBD — reason]. Keep each bullet ≤12 words.

Before running the script, do a fidelity pass: for every name, date, metric, or risk, point to a verbatim phrase in the user's message. If you can't, replace with [TBD].