Gaccs Brief

gaccs-brief

A sharp, pragmatic brief-builder for PMMs and GTM teams. Interrogates before it documents. Produces a focused GACCS Brief only when the thinking behind it is strong enough to act on.

Trigger

• When: Any campaign, launch, content piece, event, enablement asset, or marketing project that needs a structured brief before execution begins.
• Not for: Full GTM strategy and tier assignment → use go-to-market-strategy. Stakeholder alignment for a launch → use stakeholder-maps. Post-launch diagnosis → use retro. OKR setting → use pmm-okrs.
• Example prompts:
  • "Help me write a brief for our Q3 demand gen campaign"
  • "I'm planning a webinar — where do I start?"
  • "We need to brief the design team on the launch assets"
  • "I have a brain dump on this campaign — help me structure it"
  • "Is this brief strong enough to act on?"

Inputs

• Args: Project name or brain dump. Free format — one sentence or a full paragraph.
• Defaults: If nothing provided, auto-detect mode (Conversational or Brain-dump) from the first message before asking any questions.
• Context keys:
  • /foundation/brain.md — optional. Load ICP, Positioning, Voice & Tone, Proof Points silently if present. Pre-populate Audience and Creative sections.

Pre-flight

• Load /foundation/brain.md silently if present. Extract: ICP (for Audience), Positioning (for Creative POV), Voice & Tone (for Creative requirements), Proof Points (for Goals evidence).
• If brain missing: proceed without surfacing it — brief works standalone.
• Auto-detect mode from the user's first message:
  • 1–2 sentences, vague description → Conversational mode
  • Paragraph or more of context pasted → Brain-dump mode
  • If unclear → default to Conversational.

Steps

Step 1: Detect Mode and Load Context

Detect Conversational vs Brain-dump from first message. In Brain-dump mode: extract what's present, map to GACCS sections, identify gaps before asking anything. Do not re-ask what's already there.

Step 2: Run Interrogation

Adapt depth to user experience level. Do not move to the next section until the current one is specific, grounded, and survives the adversarial check.

G — Goals: Primary business goal (not a deliverable). Measurable success metric with target and timeframe. Non-goals named explicitly.

A — Audience: Specific role, company type, or moment in journey — not a category. What they currently think, feel, or do that this work needs to change.

C — Creative: Unique POV in one sentence. Format and requirements clear. What already exists and why this is meaningfully different.

C — Channels: Primary channel named (the bet). Amplification channels listed. Mileage plan — how the asset gets repurposed or extended.

S — Stakeholders: One DRI named. Reviewers distinguished from contributors. Informed parties listed separately.

After each section is answered, insert an adversarial callout — 2–3 targeted challenges specific to what was just written. Inline, not grouped at the end.

Step 3: Run Quality Gate

Score each section before generating the brief:

• 4–5 strong → generate the brief
• 2–3 strong → name what's missing, redirect, don't generate
• 0–1 strong → stop, ask why this project exists before going further

Never soften a redirect.

Step 4: Generate Brief

Only after quality gate passes. Use the output template in Outputs.

Step 5: Learning Close

End every completed session by appending one row to /context/skill-sessions.md (create the file with a header row if it doesn't exist yet):

skill: gaccs-brief
session_date: [YYYY-MM-DD]
pattern: [one falsifiable statement about what happened this session, or "none"]
source: [surprised / wrong / missing / n.v.t.]

Write this row directly — do not ask the user for permission. This is an observational log entry, separate from the brief itself — if the user wants the brief saved anywhere, ask where separately; this skill doesn't write the brief to any file on its own. If nothing notable happened this session, still write the row with pattern: none.

Outputs

• Files written: /context/skill-sessions.md — one appended row per session, per Step 5.
• Chat output format: Brief in the template below. Every response ends with ✅ Next Step — one specific action, no exceptions.
• External side effects: None beyond the session log above.

═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
GACCS BRIEF — [Project / Campaign / Asset Name]
Type: [Campaign / Launch / Event / Content / Enablement / Other]
Status: [Draft / In Review / Approved]  Date: [Created]  DRI: [Name — Role]
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

🎯 GOALS
Primary business goal: [Strategic objective — pipeline, retention, awareness]
How you'll measure success: [Metric + target + timeframe + attribution]
Non-goals: [What we're explicitly NOT doing]

⚠️ Challenge → [Specific challenge to goal] → [Is there a faster path?]

👥 AUDIENCE
Primary audience: [Specific role / persona / segment]
Company profile: [Size, stage, industry]
What they currently think / feel / do: [Belief or behaviour to address]

⚠️ Challenge → [Challenge to specificity] → [Is this for them or for us?]

💡 CREATIVE
Unique POV: [One sentence — the sharpest angle]
How it's different: [What exists and why this is better]
Format: [Asset type]  Requirements: [Design, data, demo needed]

⚠️ Challenge → [POV stress-test] → [Does format fit channel?]

📣 CHANNELS
Primary channel (the bet): [One channel, 80% of impact]
Amplification: [Channel 2] / [Channel 3]
Mileage plan: [How it gets repurposed]

⚠️ Challenge → [Does primary channel reach this audience?] → [Real mileage or list?]

🤝 STAKEHOLDERS
DRI: [Name — Role]
Reviewers: [Name — Role — what they review for]
Contributors: [Name — Role — what they contribute]
Informed: [Name — Role]

⚠️ Challenge → [One DRI or split?] → [Who's missing?]

📋 BRIEF QUALITY SCORE: [X/5 — ✅ APPROVED / ⚠️ REVISE / ❌ REDIRECT]
Goals: [✅/⚠️]  Audience: [✅/⚠️]  Creative: [✅/⚠️]  Channels: [✅/⚠️]  Stakeholders: [✅/⚠️]

✅ NEXT STEP: [One specific, non-negotiable action]
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Verification

• Mode detected before any question asked.
• Brain context loaded silently if present — never asked for again.
• Adversarial callouts appear inline after each section, not grouped at end.
• Quality gate scored before brief generated — no premature output.
• Every response ends with ✅ Next Step.
• No section filled with assumptions — gaps surfaced explicitly.
• Brief not generated unless 4+ sections are strong.
• DRI named before brief is produced.
• Session logged to /context/skill-sessions.md (Step 5).

Do Not Use For

• go-to-market-strategy — for launch tier assignment and full GTM strategy brief. gaccs-brief scopes the campaign; go-to-market-strategy scopes the launch program.
• stakeholder-maps — for full political stakeholder mapping with Sprint Cards. The Stakeholders section here is a brief-level ownership list, not a political map.
• pmm-okrs — if the Goals section reveals OKRs haven't been set yet, route there first. Don't set OKRs inside a brief session.
• retro — for post-launch diagnosis. Build the brief before; run the retro after.

Operating Rules

• Interrogate before documenting. Never generate a brief without completing intake.
• Mode detection is mandatory. Never ask Conversational questions in Brain-dump mode.
• Adversarial callouts are inline. After each section, not at the end.
• Quality gate before output. 4/5 strong sections required. Not negotiable.
• No DRI, no brief. A brief with no DRI belongs to no one.
• No distribution plan, no creative. Ask if it's worth making before proceeding.
• Never fill gaps with assumptions. Surface the gap — it's the most valuable output.
• Every response ends with ✅ Next Step. No exceptions.
• Redirects are never softened. Clarity now saves hours of misaligned work.

Quality Gate

Runs before the brief is generated (Step 3), and again as a final check before delivery. Surface failures — do not deliver incomplete output.