Skill Concept Brief Kit — Start Here
What This Kit Does
This kit produces a validated concept brief for a Claude skill before any building starts. The brief sources existing IP, defines the problem, maps signal types to IP concepts, checks against design constraints, and identifies what needs testing. Nothing gets built until the brief is validated.
This is the entry point. Every skill starts here.
What It Produces
| # | Asset | Format | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Concept Brief | .md | Validated direction doc that feeds the Skill Build Kit |
Where It Sits in the Pipeline
[Concept Brief Kit] ──→ [Skill Build Kit] ──→ [Delivery Page Kit] ──→ [Post Kit] ──→ [DM Kit]
You are here Build the skill Build the page Write the post Write the DMsNothing downstream starts until the concept brief is validated by Kathryn.
What the Brief Does
Seven jobs:
| # | Job | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Source existing IP | Find what already exists. Map it to the skill. Don't reinvent. |
| 2 | Define the problem | What does the user not know that they should? What's hiding? |
| 3 | Map IP to skill design | Each section and signal type traces back to a specific IP concept |
| 4 | Check design constraints | Can't fail, sustainable, win fast — if it doesn't pass all three, redesign |
| 5 | Check quality bar | Would they feel guilty they didn't pay for this? |
| 6 | Note foundational dependencies | Does this skill work standalone? What makes it better? |
| 7 | Identify testing requirements | What needs to happen before the teaching story can be written? |
Two Modes
This kit operates in two modes. Determine which mode before starting.
| Mode | When | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| Handraiser | Free skills for LinkedIn → DM campaign | Standalone, pasted input, works without foundations, series of 5 |
| Intensive | Paid skills built during a 3-session Intensive | Practice Brain input, skills chain (output of one feeds the next), works within a session arc |
How to know which mode: If the skill is part of an Intensive (referenced in an Intensive Concept Brief), use Intensive mode. If it's a free giveaway for the campaign funnel, use Handraiser mode.
What changes between modes: Input design, dependency model, design constraints, quality bar, series cohesion check. The IP sourcing and production workflow are the same — you still search the same locations, still map IP to skill design.
Design Constraints (Universal — Every Skill)
Canonical source: business-aos/reference/core/operating-law.md — contains the Win Stack, quality bars, and design constraints that apply to everything Advisory OS produces. Skills must pass all three:
| Constraint | Rule | Test |
|---|---|---|
| Can't fail | Every step is a yes/no action. No judgment calls, no multi-step workflows. If you can paste and read, you can use this. | Could someone with zero consulting experience run this and get value? |
| Sustainable | Built to run repeatedly — weekly, monthly, quarterly. Not a one-time insight tool. | Would they put this on a calendar? |
| Win fast | By the first run, they have something they can act on today — and they can't believe they produced it that fast without help. The win isn't just discovery. It's speed, output, confidence, and capacity compressed into minutes. | Does the output hit at least 3 of the 5 wins in the Win Stack? |
Quality bar (Handraiser): The recipient should feel fortunate they got this for free. Slightly guilty they didn't pay for it. The output should read like a $500 consulting deliverable.
Additional Constraints — Intensive Mode
Intensive skills must also pass these:
| Constraint | Rule | Test |
|---|---|---|
| Non-technical | The participant installs this skill during a live session with Kathryn walking them through it. No prior Claude experience required. | Could someone who just downloaded Claude yesterday install and run this in the session? |
| 10-100x value | The skill produces output worth 10-100x what they paid for the session. | Would they pay a consultant $500+ for this deliverable? |
| Practice Brain integration | The skill reads from structured reference files (client roster, services catalog, etc.) produced during the Groundwork. Not pasted emails. | Does the skill read from Practice Brain files? Does it degrade gracefully if they're incomplete? |
| Chains with other skills | Intensive skills form an arc. Each skill's output can feed the next skill's input. | Is the output structured so the next skill in the arc can read it? |
| Session-scoped | The skill must be installable, runnable, and produce output within the session's time block (~25 min for install+build, ~25 min for run on real data). | Can they install, customize, and get a complete output in ~50 minutes? |
Quality bar (Intensive): $97 for 3 sessions should feel like $1,000+. Each skill's output should be something they'd pay a consultant $500+ to produce — and they built it themselves in under an hour.
File Inventory
| File | Purpose | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
00-skill-concept-brief-start-here.md | Orientation — what this produces, where it sits, design constraints | Start here every time |
01-skill-concept-brief-context.md | Required inputs — what you need before writing the brief | Before every brief |
02-skill-concept-brief-terminology.md | Locked vocabulary for concept briefs | Reference when writing |
03-skill-concept-brief-golden-example.md | Pointer to the Hidden Revenue Scan brief | Study before writing |
04-skill-concept-brief-quality.md | QC checklist — does the brief pass all gates? | Run after every brief |
05-skill-concept-brief-output-skill.md | Production workflow — step by step through the 7 jobs | Follow for every brief |
Relationship to Other Kits
Skill Build Kit (content/frameworks/kit-skill-build/): The concept brief feeds directly into the Skill Build Kit. The brief's IP mapping, signal types, and section design become the skill file's specification. Do not open the Skill Build Kit without a validated concept brief.
Campaign Decision Doc (business-aos/decisions/2026-03-26-campaign-architecture-decisions.md): The design constraints and quality bar live here. The concept brief checks against them.
business-aos IP sources: Angles (reference/proof/angles/), case studies (reference/proof/case-studies/), IP inventory (reference/core/ip-inventory.md). These are reference material the brief may draw from — but the primary IP direction comes from Kathryn's concepts, not from existing angle files.
Golden Standard Reference
The Hidden Revenue Scan concept brief is the golden example: content/business/marketing/content-pipeline/concept-briefs/skill-02-hidden-revenue-scan.md