# Lifesight Budget Optimization

> Use when the user wants to reallocate, optimize, or plan marketing budget across channels with Lifesight — "optimize my budget", "where should I move spend", "what's the best allocation for Q4", "how do I hit $X revenue", "should I increase budget", "what if I shift spend from X to Y". Runs the MIA optimization flow cleanly, applies the workspace guardrails, and pressure-tests the result before recommending it. Routed to from the `lifesight` router after the workspace is calibrated.

- Skill: `lifesight/lifesight-budget-optimization` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add lifesight/lifesight-budget-optimization`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/lifesight/lifesight-budget-optimization/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Marketing & Growth
- Author: lifesight (https://skillmd.com/u/lifesight)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/lifesight/lifesight-budget-optimization

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# Lifesight Budget Optimization

The flagship analysis job: turn a budget question into a defensible reallocation
decision. The optimizer does the math; **your job is the judgment** — making sure
the answer maximizes the business outcome, not just the metric the tool was pointed at.

**Prerequisites (the router handles these):** workspace calibrated, profile loaded
(model, channels, scale, guardrails). Operate under `lifesight-core` rules and
present under `lifesight-rendering`. Load both.

## Step 1 — Lock the objective BEFORE running anything

This is the most important step and the one a naive agent skips. "Maximize revenue"
with no budget constraint will happily **buy revenue at a loss** (it triples spend
for a sub-1.0 marginal return). Decide the objective first:

- **Default to fixed-budget reallocation** (same total spend, optimized mix) unless
  the user explicitly wants to change the budget. This is the safe, common case.
- If the user wants growth, frame it as **"what's the most efficient way to deploy
  $X"** or **"what budget hits $Y revenue at an acceptable iROAS"** — never uncapped
  max-revenue.
- Apply the profile's `default_objective` and `iroas_floor` if set.

State the objective in one line and proceed. If the user truly asked for uncapped
max-revenue, run it — but you MUST surface the marginal economics (Step 4).

> Known MCP limit: a fixed-total-budget request sometimes errors. If it does, run
> the standard optimization and reconcile to the fixed budget in your reading (note
> the total delta and the marginal return), rather than presenting an unconstrained
> plan as if it were fixed-budget.

## Step 2 — Walk the gate funnel (one answer at a time)

MIA gates step-by-step. Answer each gate with one value; never re-send the whole
request. Typical funnel:

1. **Model** — already set from the profile; if MIA re-prompts, supply the default model.
2. **Constraint strategy** — Current / Conservative / Moderate / Aggressive / Custom.
   Default to **Moderate** unless guardrails say otherwise; if the profile sets
   `max_channel_change`, use **Custom** with those bounds.
3. **Time period** — match the user's horizon (e.g. Quarter for Q4).

Completing these gates produces ONE optimization — that's one heavy step. If the
session sours (repeated errors), reset and re-align the workspace per `lifesight-core`
Rule 5, then resume.

**The optimization is a mandatory gate the chain must pass.** A power user may ask
for the full package (optimize + forecast + saturation + worksheet). You may run it
as a chain — but the moment the optimization returns, apply the Step 4 pressure-test
BEFORE doing anything downstream:

- **Sound result** → continue the chain (forecast, saturation, worksheet), still one
  heavy call at a time, and deliver the package.
- **Value-destroying, self-contradictory, or silently budget-inflating result** →
  **HALT.** Present the problem and the fix. Do NOT build a forecast or worksheet for
  a plan that shouldn't ship — that is the exact failure this gate prevents.

Default to presenting the optimization first when the change is large or high-stakes
(a 3× budget swing, a board/CFO-bound number); proceeding straight through is fine
for a clearly-sound routine reallocation. Never run an unattended pipeline that
ignores the optimization's result — the Step 4 check between the optimization and
anything downstream is non-negotiable.

## Step 3 — Apply guardrails from the profile

Before trusting the output, enforce the customer's rules:
- **`iroas_floor`** — do not recommend *scaling* any channel sitting below it.
- **`locked_channels`** — never recommend changing these.
- **`max_channel_change`** — flag (or constrain) any move beyond the cap.

If guardrails are unset in the profile, ask the one question that matters ("Any
iROAS floor or per-channel caps I should respect?") rather than assuming none.

## Step 4 — Pressure-test before you recommend (mandatory)

Run every optimization output through these checks. This is what makes the answer
defensible:

1. **Did total budget change?** If the plan increased spend, say so explicitly and
   compute **marginal return = Δrevenue ÷ Δspend**. If marginal < 1.0 (or < the
   iROAS floor), the incremental spend destroys value — say that plainly.
2. **Platform ROAS or causal iROAS?** Name which the numbers are. A "grow 100%"
   recommendation on a sub-1.0 *platform* ROAS gets a caveat — the causal picture
   may differ.
3. **Do the figures reconcile?** Headline totals vs the channel table, and metrics
   vs each other. If the tool reports contradictory efficiency numbers, flag it and
   recommend verifying in-platform — don't relay both as fact.
4. **Is the reallocation signal still useful even if magnitudes are shaky?** Usually
   yes — separate the trustworthy direction (scale vs cut) from the suspect exact numbers.

## Step 5 — Present (via lifesight-rendering)

Use the budget-optimization presentation order: the honest "so what" → optimized mix
(clean channel names, signed deltas) → the why (marginal ROI + saturation in plain
language) → impact forecast → 2-4 sequenced next actions. Frame the lead line for the
persona (CMO / Growth / CFO / Analyst). Curate — don't dump every channel row.

## Step 6 — Offer the right next step

Pick 1-2 genuinely useful follow-ups, not a menu:
- "Run the forecast on this plan" · "Weekly pacing worksheet" · "What-if on a
  specific channel" · "Save this scenario". Only suggest channels that actually
  exist in this workspace (per the profile).

## Red flags — STOP

- About to recommend "adopt max-revenue" without checking marginal return → **Step 4.1**
- About to call a sub-1.0 channel "high headroom, scale it" → **check iROAS floor + platform-vs-causal**
- Relaying two different efficiency numbers from one response as both true → **flag the contradiction**
- Re-sending the whole prompt at each MIA gate → **answer the one gate**
- Promising to auto-run optimize → forecast → saturation → worksheet in one chain → **run the optimization, PRESENT it with the Step 4 pressure-test, THEN proceed; a value-destroying plan stops the chain**
- Recommending a move that violates a `locked_channel` or `max_channel_change` → **enforce the guardrail**

## Common mistakes

| Mistake | Fix |
|---------|-----|
| Running uncapped "maximize revenue" by default | Default to fixed-budget reallocation (Step 1) |
| Treating platform ROAS as causal truth | Name which it is; caveat scaling calls on platform numbers |
| Presenting a 3× budget plan as "+32% revenue win" | Show marginal return on the incremental spend |
| Ignoring profile guardrails | Enforce iROAS floor / caps / locked channels (Step 3) |
| Dumping all 20 channels with the raw menu | Curate to the decision; clean names; relevant next steps |