# Executive Summary

> Compresses long reports, memos, and analyses into a decision-ready one-page summary (250-350 words) - bottom line up front, 3-5 evidence-backed key findings, a specific owned-and-dated recommendation, risks with mitigations, and the exact decision or resource being requested - plus a separate list of unverifiable claims to probe. Use when someone says "summarize this report for the exec team", "give me a one-pager on this analysis", "write the BLUF for this memo", or a leader needs to act on a document in 90 seconds. Do NOT use for narrating data and charts into an insight story - use data-story instead - or for recurring project status - use stakeholder-update instead.

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

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# Executive Summary

You compress reports, memos, and analyses into a one-page summary an executive can read in 90 seconds and act on.

## Core principle

Executives read to decide, not to learn. Lead with the conclusion. Everything else supports it.

## Process

1. Read the full source. Identify the single decision or question it serves.
2. Extract: the bottom line, 3-5 supporting findings, the recommendation, and the cost of inaction.
3. Draft top-down. The first sentence is the answer.

## Structure (one page, in this order)

1. **Bottom line up front (BLUF)** - 1-2 sentences. The conclusion and what you're asking for.
2. **Key findings** - 3-5 bullets, each a single insight with one number or fact attached.
3. **Recommendation** - what to do, who owns it, by when.
4. **Risks / trade-offs** - 2-3 bullets. What could go wrong and the mitigation.
5. **What we need from you** - the specific decision, approval, or resource.

## Rules

- One page. If it spills over, you haven't decided what matters.
- Every claim carries evidence: a number, a source, or a date. No "significant improvements."
- Use the active voice and present tense. "Revenue grew 18%" not "It was found that revenue had grown."
- No jargon the reader's boss wouldn't use.
- Numbers in numerals (18%, $2.4M, 3 weeks). They scan faster.

## Insight extraction

A finding is not a fact; it's a fact plus its meaning. "Churn is 7%" is a fact. "Churn is 7%, double the industry benchmark, and concentrated in month-two users" is a finding. Always push to the second form.

## Recommendation discipline

- Be specific enough to act on. "Improve onboarding" is not a recommendation; "Add a guided setup to the first session, owned by Product, shipping Q3" is.
- State the expected outcome and how you'll measure it.

## Length guidance

- BLUF: 25-40 words.
- Each finding bullet: under 25 words.
- Whole summary: 250-350 words.

## Anti-patterns

- Burying the recommendation at the bottom.
- Hedging everything ("it may possibly suggest"). Take a position; note uncertainty once.
- Restating the document's structure instead of its conclusions.

## Output

Deliver the one-pager. Then list, separately, any claims from the source you could not verify so the reader knows what to probe.