Visual Summary
Cross-cutting skill for generating visually appealing ASCII-art summaries of any deliverable. Use this at the end of any step to present information in a way that is easy to scan and pleasant to read.
Input
- Any completed deliverable (vision doc, tech strategy, backlog, plan, validation report, etc.)
Output
- An ASCII visual summary printed to the user, highlighting the key information at a glance
Process
Phase 1: Decide When to Use
Call this skill after completing a deliverable, before presenting it to the user for gate approval. It makes the information scannable and gives a professional, polished feel.
Phase 2: Build the Visual Summary
Step 1: Identify Key Data
Extract the 5-8 most important data points from the deliverable. Less is more.
Step 2: Choose a Layout
Pick the layout that best fits the data:
Layout A: Dashboard Card (for overviews)
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ 📋 PRODUCT VISION SUMMARY ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ ║
║ 🎯 Problem: Order tracking is manual and error-prone ║
║ 👤 User: Small bakery owner, non-technical ║
║ 📱 Platform: [as defined in vision] ║
║ ║
║ ┌─ CORE FEATURES ────────────────────────────────────┐ ║
║ │ 1. ✅ Order entry with product catalog │ ║
║ │ 2. ✅ Daily/weekly sales summary │ ║
║ │ 3. ✅ Customer management │ ║
║ │ 4. ⬜ Receipt printing (post-MVP) │ ║
║ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ║
║ ║
║ 🏁 MVP: Enter orders + view daily totals ║
║ 📅 Deadline: None ║
║ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Layout B: Comparison Table (for tech decisions)
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ 🏗️ TECH STRATEGY SUMMARY ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ ║
║ Stack: [Language] │ [UI Framework] │ [DB] │ [Pattern] ║
║ ║
║ ┌──────────────┬────────────┬──────────┬────────────┐ ║
║ │ Feature │ Component │ Library │ Complexity │ ║
║ ├──────────────┼────────────┼──────────┼────────────┤ ║
║ │ Order Entry │ Screen │ ORM │ M │ ║
║ │ Sales Report │ Screen │ ORM │ M │ ║
║ │ Customer Mgmt│ Service │ ORM │ S │ ║
║ └──────────────┴────────────┴──────────┴────────────┘ ║
║ ║
║ ⚠️ Risks: None critical ║
║ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Layout C: Progress Board (for backlogs/plans)
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ 📋 BACKLOG SUMMARY Total: 12 tickets ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ ║
║ ┌─ MUST (MVP) ──────────────────────────── 5 tickets ┐ ║
║ │ EPIC1-01 Setup & config S ░░░░░░ │ ║
║ │ EPIC1-02 Order entry screen M ░░░░░░ │ ║
║ │ EPIC1-03 Product catalog M ░░░░░░ │ ║
║ │ EPIC2-01 Daily sales view M ░░░░░░ │ ║
║ │ EPIC2-02 Order total calculation S ░░░░░░ │ ║
║ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ║
║ ║
║ ┌─ SHOULD ──────────────────────────────── 4 tickets ┐ ║
║ │ EPIC3-01 Customer list S ░░░░░░ │ ║
║ │ EPIC3-02 Customer search S ░░░░░░ │ ║
║ │ EPIC1-04 Edit existing order M ░░░░░░ │ ║
║ │ EPIC2-03 Weekly report M ░░░░░░ │ ║
║ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ║
║ ║
║ ┌─ COULD ───────────────────────────────── 2 tickets ┐ ║
║ │ EPIC4-01 Dark mode S ░░░░░░ │ ║
║ │ EPIC4-02 Export to PDF L ░░░░░░ │ ║
║ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ║
║ ║
║ ┌─ WON'T (post-MVP) ───────────────────── 1 ticket ┐ ║
║ │ EPIC5-01 Multi-language XL ░░░░░░ │ ║
║ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ║
║ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Layout D: Sprint Timeline (for implementation plans)
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ 📅 IMPLEMENTATION PLAN ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ ║
║ MVP = Sprint 1 + Sprint 2 ║
║ ║
║ Sprint 1 ▸▸▸▸▸▸▸▸▸▸ [Setup + Core] ║
║ │ EPIC1-01 Setup & config .............. S 2h ║
║ │ EPIC1-02 Order entry screen .......... M 6h ║
║ │ EPIC1-03 Product catalog ............. M 6h ║
║ │ Total: ~14h ║
║ │ ║
║ Sprint 2 ▸▸▸▸▸▸▸▸▸▸ [Reports + Edit] ║
║ │ EPIC2-01 Daily sales view ............ M 6h ║
║ │ EPIC2-02 Order total calc ............ S 3h ║
║ │ EPIC1-04 Edit existing order ......... M 6h ║
║ │ Total: ~15h ║
║ │ ║
║ Sprint 3 ▸▸▸▸▸▸▸▸▸▸ [Customers + Polish] ║
║ │ EPIC3-01 Customer list ............... S 3h ║
║ │ EPIC3-02 Customer search ............. S 3h ║
║ │ EPIC4-01 Dark mode ................... S 3h ║
║ │ Total: ~9h ║
║ ║
║ ────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ║
║ 📊 Total: 12 tickets │ ~38h │ 3 sprints ║
║ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Layout E: Validation Report (for QA results)
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ✅ VALIDATION REPORT ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ ║
║ Feature: Order Entry Screen ║
║ Date: 2026-02-11 ║
║ ║
║ ┌─ RESULTS ─────────────────────────────────────────┐ ║
║ │ │ ║
║ │ Total: 8 ✅ Pass: 6 ❌ Fail: 1 ⚠️ : 1 │ ║
║ │ │ ║
║ │ ████████████████████░░░░ 75% Pass │ ║
║ │ │ ║
║ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ║
║ ║
║ ┌─ BUGS ────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ║
║ │ 🐛 BUG-001 [Major] Total not updating on edit │ ║
║ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ║
║ ║
║ Recommendation: ⚠️ APPROVE WITH CONDITIONS ║
║ Fix BUG-001 before release ║
║ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Layout F: Code Review (for review results)
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ 🔍 CODE REVIEW SUMMARY ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ ║
║ Tests: ✅ 24/24 passing ║
║ ║
║ ┌─ FINDINGS ────────────────────────────────────────┐ ║
║ │ 🔴 Critical: 0 │ ║
║ │ 🟡 Warning: 2 │ ║
║ │ 🔵 Info: 3 │ ║
║ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ║
║ ║
║ 🟡 W1: Duplicated validation logic (OrderVM, CartVM) ║
║ 🟡 W2: Missing null check on customer.phone ║
║ 🔵 I1: Consider extracting PriceCalculator utility ║
║ 🔵 I2: Rename `doStuff()` → `calculateOrderTotal()` ║
║ 🔵 I3: Add KDoc to public functions ║
║ ║
║ Decision: ✅ APPROVE WITH CONDITIONS ║
║ Fix W1 and W2 before next step ║
║ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Rules
Visual Summary Rules
- ALWAYS use double-line box (
╔═╗║╚═╝) for the outer frame - ALWAYS include a title with an emoji in the header
- ALWAYS use single-line box (
┌─┐│└─┘) for inner sections - KEEP IT SHORT: Max 25 lines inside the box. Summarize, don't dump
- USE EMOJIS strategically: ✅ ❌ ⚠️ 🐛 🎯 📋 🏗️ 📅 🔍
- ALIGN COLUMNS when showing tables — use dots or spaces for alignment
- SHOW PROGRESS with bars:
████░░░░or status:✅ ⬜ ⬜ - ONE SUMMARY PER DELIVERABLE — don't combine multiple deliverables
- Present BEFORE the gate — the summary helps the user decide approval
Layout Selection Guide
| Deliverable | Recommended Layout |
|---|---|
| Product Vision | A: Dashboard Card |
| Tech Strategy | B: Comparison Table |
| Backlog | C: Progress Board |
| Implementation Plan | D: Sprint Timeline |
| Feature (after coding) | F: Code Review |
| Validation Report | E: Validation Report |
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