New Proposal Drafting (Lightweight)

Overview

The new-proposal skill is now a streamlined playbook. It explains how to assemble a first-draft Sentient proposal using existing skills and source folders in this repository—no custom scripts or bundled assets required. Follow these instructions to move quickly from discovery to a shareable document while keeping messaging aligned with Sentient's positioning.

Quick Start

1. Run the latest customer-brief skill to capture discovery findings for the account.
2. Open the relevant product narrative in product-white-paper/ and flag the sections that map to the customer's needs.
3. Reference the tone and messaging guidance in sentient-brand-guidelines to keep language on-brand.
4. Combine the above into a proposal outline using your preferred editor (Docs, Notion, Markdown). The sample outline in presentation-outline/ is a good starting point when you need structure.

Recommended Workflow

1. Validate inputs: Confirm you have the newest intake form, customer brief, and stakeholder list from the account team.
2. Draft the executive summary: Highlight customer objectives, Sentient's solution fit, and expected outcomes in 2–3 paragraphs.
3. Detail the solution: Use content from product-white-paper/ to explain architecture, differentiators, and implementation plan.
4. Showcase proof: Pull relevant success metrics from smartchat-service-costs/ or other collateral to reinforce value.
5. Outline next steps: Define timeline, owners, and required follow-up actions. Use daily-files work-day to prepare the shared Workday folder if the deliverable should be saved there.

Success Criteria

• Proposal mirrors Sentient's structure (executive summary → solution overview → roadmap → next steps).
• Messaging stays aligned with the brand guidelines and references approved differentiators.
• Source documents are cited or linked so reviewers can verify claims quickly.
• Output is saved using the <YYYYMMDD>-<CustomerName>-Proposal-R<Revision> naming convention.

Limitations & Notes

• This lightweight skill intentionally omits automation scripts, bundled samples, and tests. It is documentation-only.
• Teams that need repeatable generation or validation should add back scripts in a dedicated branch and update this guide.
• Keep sensitive customer data out of the repository; store working drafts in approved collaboration tools.

Related Skills & Artifacts

• customer-brief – Use to gather and refresh account discovery notes before drafting.
• product-white-paper – Provides canonical product positioning and technical capabilities.
• sentient-brand-guidelines – Supplies tone, terminology, and styling cues for all outbound materials.
• daily-files – Use the work-day sub-command to prepare and verify the shared Workday folder, then save final drafts there once ready for review.

Extending Later

If you decide to reintroduce automation:

1. Stand up generator scripts in scripts/ or a new automation/ folder.
2. Document new usage patterns here so others know how to run them.
3. Add tests under tests/ to cover the automated workflow.