consulting-report-writing

Context

Shared quality-floor skill. Use whenever any co-hr agent produces a formal client-facing consulting deliverable (compliance review, HR system design proposal, workforce statistics report, restructuring plan, etc.). It has no single natural owner among the 11 specialists, so pm holds it and any agent may invoke it directly when writing a deliverable.

When to Use

• When producing any formal client-facing consulting deliverable
• When structuring a strategy report, assessment, or recommendation memo
• When recommendations need to be prioritized and sequenced for a client
• When the engagement reaches the deliverable production stage in Phase 3

Execution Steps

1. Apply Issue Tree Structure:

   • Start from the central question (the client's decision)
   • Decompose into MECE sub-questions (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive)
   • Each section of the report answers one branch of the issue tree

2. Section Architecture (standard consulting report structure):

   • Executive Summary (1-2 pages): findings, conclusions, recommendations — written last, placed first
   • Situation / Context (1-2 pages): what is true today
   • Complication / Problem (1-2 pages): why the status quo is not acceptable
   • Resolution / Recommendations (3-5 pages): what should be done, in what order
   • Implementation Roadmap (1-2 pages): phased actions with owners and timelines
   • Appendix: supporting data, methodology, detailed analysis

3. MECE Check: Review each section. Ask: Do the sections overlap? Do they together cover the full scope?

4. Recommendation Framing: Each recommendation must have:

   • What (specific action)
   • Why (evidence-backed rationale)
   • How (implementation approach)
   • Who (owner)
   • When (timeline)
   • Impact-Feasibility Matrix: plot each recommendation on a 2x2 (Impact × Feasibility) to prioritize

5. Language Standards:

   • Active voice, present tense for recommendations
   • Quantify every claim where possible ("20% cost reduction" not "significant cost reduction")
   • One idea per paragraph, topic sentence first
   • No jargon without definition
   • Legal/regulatory proper nouns of the active jurisdiction stay in backticks per co-hr's English-prose language policy

6. Visual Communication: Every data point should have a chart or table. Every complex argument should have a visual framework.

7. Quality Checks:

   • MECE compliance across all sections
   • So-What statement present per section
   • Evidence backing every claim
   • Executive summary matches body conclusions

Output Format

• Full consulting report in the section structure above
• Recommendation Prioritization Matrix (Impact × Feasibility)
• Executive Summary (standalone, max 2 pages)

Save Output To: See Output Destination Mapping in docs/co-hr.context.md for destination folder and naming convention. Create the folder if it does not exist. Do not hard-code output paths.

Related Skills

• (none yet in co-hr — add once a downstream skill exists)