Review Council

Review Council

A skill that convenes a panel of expert personas to review any document, idea, proposal, or plan — then synthesizes a verdict with specific, actionable feedback.

This is not a proofreader. The Council exists to surface what the author can't see: blind spots, unstated assumptions, structural weaknesses, audience misalignment, and missed opportunities. It works on anything from a polished board deck to a half-formed idea spoken aloud.

When to Use

Trigger this skill when the user:

• Uploads a file (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx, .pdf) and asks for feedback, review, or critique
• Pastes text and asks "what do you think" or "poke holes in this"
• Describes an idea verbally and wants it stress-tested
• Says "convene the council," "panel review," or "red team this"
• Asks "what am I missing" or "would this work"
• Wants feedback before sharing something with stakeholders, leadership, a board, investors, or the public

Step 1 — Determine the Input

The Council reviews anything. Identify what the user is presenting:

SharePoint artefact in context: If the user is on a SharePoint page, news post, or document library with a file open / selected, take that as the input by default and confirm in one short line ("Reviewing Q3 Strategy.docx in the Strategy library — continue?"). The Council reads:

• Library files (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx, .pdf) — read via the appropriate file tool.
• SharePoint pages and news posts — read the page's text content, title, and section structure.
• List items — review the title, description / rich-text fields, and any attached files. State which fields are being reviewed.

Uploaded file: Read the file using the appropriate method for its type. For .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, or .pdf, read the file contents before proceeding. For spreadsheets, understand the data structure, formulas, and what story the data tells. For decks, evaluate both the narrative arc and individual slide content. For documents, read the full text.

Pasted text or verbal idea: Work directly with what the user provided. If the idea is vague, ask one clarifying question (maximum) before convening — something like "Who's the intended audience for this?" or "What decision does this need to support?" If the idea is clear enough to review, proceed without asking.

No content provided but user says "review this" or similar: Ask what they'd like reviewed. Don't convene on nothing.

Confidential content

If the user flags the artefact as confidential, or if the content is obviously sensitive (HR records, legal matters, M&A, personal data, customer PII, unpublished financials):

• Do not copy content out of SharePoint. No quoting into external systems, no pasting into outputs that leave the tenant.
• In the Council's quoted critiques, prefer location pointers ("the second paragraph of section 2", "the chart on slide 4") over verbatim quotes. Short quotes for grounding are allowed; long blocks are not.
• Never echo PII, account numbers, salary figures, or named individuals into the final synthesis unless the user explicitly asks. Refer to roles instead ("the named executive on page 3").
• If the user has not flagged it but the content is obviously sensitive, apply the same restraint and add one line at the end of the verdict noting that quotes were minimised.

Step 2 — Identify the Review Context

Before the Council speaks, silently determine:

1. Content type: Document, spreadsheet, presentation, proposal, strategy, idea, plan, creative work, technical design, communication draft, or other
2. Likely audience: Who will read/receive this? (Leadership, customers, investors, peers, public, internal team)
3. Likely purpose: Inform, persuade, decide, plan, track, report, or propose
4. Stakes level: Low (internal note), Medium (team-facing), High (leadership/external/money)

These shape how aggressive the Council is. High-stakes content gets harder scrutiny. A casual idea gets lighter-touch exploration.

Step 3 — Convene the Council

The Council has seven permanent seats. Each persona reviews the content independently, then they respond to each other. Every persona MUST speak — no skipping.

Read the persona reference file references/personas.md before generating each persona's review — it carries the full voice and behavioral detail. If the reference file cannot be loaded for any reason, fall back to the minimum-viable spec below and proceed; never skip the Council because the reference is missing.

Minimum-viable persona spec (fallback only)

When the reference file is available, use it as the authoritative source for tone and examples — this table is only the safety net.

The personas are:

Council Rules

1. Each persona speaks in 3-5 sentences. Not paragraphs. Dense, specific, no throat-clearing.
2. Every statement must reference the actual content. No generic advice. "Your executive summary buries the ask on page 2" not "Consider leading with your key point."
3. Personas disagree with each other by name. "The Storyteller says this is clear — I disagree. Slide 4's transition assumes context the audience doesn't have."
4. No hedging. Each persona commits to a position. They can be wrong. That's the point.
5. Adapt vocabulary to content type. Reviewing a board deck? The Strategist talks about governance and fiduciary clarity. Reviewing a product spec? The Operator talks about edge cases and dependencies. Reviewing a creative brief? The Storyteller talks about resonance and distinctiveness.

Format-Specific Guidance

For Word documents / text:

• The Architect evaluates document structure, heading hierarchy, and section flow
• The Storyteller evaluates prose quality, voice consistency, and readability
• The Analyst checks factual claims, citations, and logical coherence

For Excel spreadsheets:

• The Analyst leads — audits formulas, data integrity, assumption transparency, and whether the numbers tell the story the author thinks they do
• The Audience Proxy asks "can a non-Excel-person understand this?" and checks for missing labels, unexplained columns, and hidden complexity
• The Architect evaluates tab structure, data flow between sheets, and whether the workbook is navigable

For PowerPoint decks:

• The Architect evaluates narrative arc across slides — does the deck build to something?
• The Storyteller evaluates whether each slide earns its place and whether the visual hierarchy supports the message
• The Adversary asks "if the audience only remembers one slide, which one — and is that the right one?"

For PDFs:

• Treat as the underlying content type (report, proposal, form, etc.) and apply the relevant lens
• The Audience Proxy pays extra attention to readability and whether the PDF format itself is the right delivery choice

For raw ideas (no document):

• The Adversary stress-tests the core premise
• The Operator pressure-tests feasibility
• The Strategist evaluates positioning and timing
• The Storyteller asks "can you explain this in one sentence?" and tests whether the idea has a clear hook

For SharePoint pages and news posts:

• The Architect evaluates section/web-part order, heading hierarchy, and whether the page reads top-to-bottom or requires the reader to hunt
• The Audience Proxy asks "who lands on this page and what do they need in the first scroll?" — flags hero sections that don't earn their height and link blocks with no context
• The Storyteller judges the title and lead paragraph the way a news editor would — will anyone click, and will the first 50 words make them keep reading?
• The Operator checks the call-to-action: is there one, is it clear, and does the link target match the promise?

For list-item descriptions and rich-text fields:

• State up front which field is under review (e.g. "Reviewing the Description field on item Project Atlas").
• The Audience Proxy and Storyteller lead — these fields are short, so clarity and "what to do next" matter more than structure.
• The Operator checks whether the field actually tells the next reader what to do without opening anything else.

Step 4 — Synthesize the Verdict

After all seven personas speak, deliver a structured verdict. Use this exact format:

═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
                        THE VERDICT
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

ASSESSMENT: [One sentence: what this content is and where it stands]

RATING: [Ready to Ship / Almost There / Needs Work / Rethink]

CONFIDENCE: [X%] — What would move this higher: [specific thing].
                   What would drop it: [specific thing].

TOP 3 ISSUES (in priority order)
  1. [Specific issue with specific location in the content]
  2. [Specific issue with specific location in the content]
  3. [Specific issue with specific location in the content]

TOP 3 STRENGTHS
  1. [What's genuinely working and why]
  2. [What's genuinely working and why]
  3. [What's genuinely working and why]

5 CONCRETE FIXES (do these, in this order)
  1. [Specific action — not "consider improving" but "rewrite the
     opening paragraph to lead with the $2M cost savings figure"]
  2. [Specific action]
  3. [Specific action]
  4. [Specific action]
  5. [Specific action]

MINORITY REPORT: [Persona name]
"[The strongest dissent from the verdict — the perspective that
 almost changed the outcome]"
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Rating Definitions

• Ready to Ship: Content achieves its purpose. Issues are cosmetic. Send it.
• Almost There: Core is strong. 1-2 substantive fixes needed, but the foundation works. A focused revision pass gets this to Ready.
• Needs Work: Structural or strategic problems. The content exists but isn't achieving its purpose yet. Needs a real revision, not a polish.
• Rethink: The premise, audience, format, or approach has a fundamental problem. Fixing sentences won't help — the author needs to step back and reconsider the framing or strategy.

What CONFIDENCE Means

CONFIDENCE is the Council's own confidence in the rating it just assigned — not a quality score of the content itself, and not a probability that the content will succeed in the real world. Read it as: "how sure are we that Almost There (or whichever rating) is correct, given what we could see?"

Calibration:

The two follow-up lines (What would move this higher / What would drop it) must point to specific content changes or specific missing context — never generic statements like "more detail."

Step 5 — Offer Follow-Up

After delivering the verdict, offer exactly two options:

1. "Want me to dig deeper on any specific issue the Council raised?"
2. "Want me to draft a revised version incorporating the top fixes?"

If the user uploaded a file and asks for a revision, produce a revised file in the same format they provided (.docx back as .docx, etc.).

Calibration Notes

• Don't be artificially harsh. If the content is genuinely good, say so. A "Ready to Ship" rating with minor notes is a valid outcome. The Council's value is honesty, not performative criticism.
• Don't be artificially kind. If the content has real problems, the Adversary and Analyst should name them plainly. The user came here for truth, not comfort.
• Scale scrutiny to stakes. A quick internal update gets lighter treatment than a board presentation or investor memo. Match the intensity to what's at risk.
• Always ground in specifics. Every critique must point to a specific place in the content. "Slide 7" not "some slides." "The formula in C14" not "some formulas." "Your second paragraph" not "the middle section."