--- name: ceos-assistance description: Use when managing daily operational delegation through The Stack and structured leader-assistant standups file-access: [data/assistance/, templates/assistance-stack.md, templates/assistance-daily.md, data/accountability.md, data/delegate/] tools-used: [Read, Write, Glob] --- # ceos-assistance Manage the daily operational delegation workflow between a leader and their assistant using "The Stack" — a batch delegation queue. This skill implements the 5 disciplines of The Assistance Track: batching, The Stack, the daily meeting, the assistant's judgment, and a weekly review. It complements `ceos-delegate`, which handles *strategic* delegation (what SHOULD be delegated), by managing *operational* delegation (HOW items are delegated day-to-day). **Not for:** Strategic delegation decisions (use `ceos-delegate`), task tracking without a leader-assistant relationship (use `ceos-todos`), or meeting facilitation (use `ceos-l10`). The Assistance Track is specifically about the daily delegation workflow between a leader and their dedicated assistant. ## When to Use - "Add to the stack" or "stack this for my assistant" - "Run the daily meeting" or "daily standup with my assistant" - "Review the stack" or "what's on the stack?" - "Weekly assistance review" or "how's delegation going this week?" - "Show stuck items" or "what's been on the stack too long?" - "Hand off [item] to [assistant]" or "mark [item] as done" - Any discussion about daily delegation queues, assistant standups, or The Assistance Track ## Context ### Finding the CEOS Repository Search upward from the current directory for the `.ceos` marker file. This file marks the root of the CEOS repository. If `.ceos` is not found, stop and tell the user: "Not in a CEOS repository. Clone your CEOS repo and run setup.sh first." **Sync before use:** Once you find the CEOS root, run `git -C pull --ff-only --quiet 2>/dev/null` to get the latest data from teammates. If it fails (conflict or offline), continue silently with local data. ### Key Files | File | Purpose | |------|---------| | `data/assistance/stack/` | Stack items — one file per delegation item | | `data/assistance/daily/` | Daily meeting logs — one file per meeting | | `templates/assistance-stack.md` | Template for new stack items | | `templates/assistance-daily.md` | Template for daily meeting logs | | `data/accountability.md` | Source of leader-assistant relationships (read-only — use ceos-accountability to modify) | | `data/delegate/` | Delegate and Elevate audits (read-only — reference for delegation context) | ### Stack Item Format Each stack item is a markdown file at `data/assistance/stack/stack-NNN-slug.md` with YAML frontmatter: ```yaml id: "stack-001" title: "Schedule board meeting" from: "Brad Feld" to: "Sarah Chen" urgency: this_week # today | this_week | whenever status: pending # pending | handed_off | done created: "2026-02-16" handed_off: null # Date when handed to assistant completed: null # Date when marked done ``` **File naming:** `stack-NNN-slug.md` — zero-padded numeric ID, title slugified. ### Daily Meeting Log Format Each daily meeting is a markdown file at `data/assistance/daily/YYYY-MM-DD.md` with YAML frontmatter: ```yaml date: "2026-02-16" leader: "Brad Feld" assistant: "Sarah Chen" items_reviewed: 5 items_handed_off: 3 items_completed: 1 duration_minutes: 15 ``` ### Urgency Values | Value | Meaning | Expected Turnaround | |-------|---------|-------------------| | `today` | Needs attention today | Same day | | `this_week` | Should be completed this week | Within the week | | `whenever` | No time pressure, do when convenient | Best effort | ### Status Values | Value | Meaning | When Set | |-------|---------|----------| | `pending` | On the stack, not yet handed off | Item creation | | `handed_off` | Discussed in daily meeting, assistant is working on it | During Daily mode | | `done` | Completed | During Daily or Stack mode | ### The 5 Disciplines The Assistance Track is built on 5 disciplines that make delegation work: 1. **Batching** — Don't interrupt your assistant throughout the day. Collect items on The Stack. 2. **The Stack** — A single queue of everything you need to delegate. Items wait here until the daily meeting. 3. **The Daily Meeting** — A structured 5-15 minute standup to review The Stack, hand off items, and check on progress. 4. **The Assistant's Judgment** — Once handed off, trust the assistant to handle it. Don't micromanage. 5. **The Weekly Review** — A weekly check on stuck items, completion rates, and delegation health. ### Leader-Assistant Relationship The leader-assistant relationship is derived from `data/accountability.md`. Look for reporting relationships where one person's seat includes assistant-type responsibilities (Executive Assistant, Office Manager, etc.). If no clear assistant relationship is found in the accountability chart, ask the user: "Who is your assistant? (I couldn't find a clear assistant relationship in the accountability chart.)" ## Process ### Mode: Stack Use when adding new items to The Stack. This is the primary way a leader batches delegation throughout the day. #### Step 1: Identify the Relationship Determine the leader and assistant. If only one leader-assistant pair exists in `data/accountability.md`, use it automatically. If multiple exist or none is clear, ask the user. Check for existing stack items to determine the next ID: 1. Scan `data/assistance/stack/` for all `stack-NNN-*.md` files 2. Also check `data/assistance/daily/` meeting logs for any referenced IDs 3. Find the highest numeric ID 4. Increment by 1 #### Step 2: Capture the Item Ask for the item details: 1. **Title:** Short description of the task ("Schedule board meeting", "Order new monitors") 2. **Urgency:** today, this_week, or whenever 3. **Details:** Any additional context or instructions (optional) For quick stacking, accept a one-liner: "Stack: Schedule board meeting - this_week" and parse it. #### Step 3: Create the Stack Item Create a new file from `templates/assistance-stack.md`: - Generate the next sequential ID (`stack-NNN`) - Slugify the title for the filename - Fill in the frontmatter fields - Add any details to the body Show the file before writing. Ask: "Add this to the stack?" #### Step 4: Confirm After writing, display a brief confirmation: ``` Added to stack: stack-003 "Schedule board meeting" (this_week) Stack total: 5 pending items ``` --- ### Mode: Daily Use when running the structured daily standup between a leader and their assistant. This is the 5-15 minute meeting where The Stack is reviewed and items are handed off. #### Step 1: Load the Stack Read all files from `data/assistance/stack/` via `Glob("data/assistance/stack/stack-*.md")`. Parse YAML frontmatter. If no items exist: "The stack is empty. Nothing to review today. Add items with Stack mode throughout the day." Separate items by status: - **Pending** — needs to be discussed and handed off - **Handed off** — check on progress - **Today urgency** — highlight these first regardless of status #### Step 2: Display the Agenda ``` Daily Standup — [Date] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Leader: [Name] | Assistant: [Name] 🔴 TODAY (needs attention now): stack-005: "Call insurance broker" (pending) stack-003: "Send revised proposal" (handed_off — 2 days ago) 📋 PENDING (hand off today): stack-007: "Order office supplies" (this_week) stack-008: "Research conference venues" (whenever) 🔄 IN PROGRESS (check status): stack-001: "Schedule board meeting" (handed_off — 1 day ago) stack-004: "Book travel for March" (handed_off — 3 days ago) ``` #### Step 3: Walk Through Each Item For each item in the agenda, ask the leader: **For pending items:** - "Hand off to [assistant]?" → Update status to `handed_off`, set `handed_off` date - "Defer?" → Keep as pending, optionally update urgency - "Cancel?" → Remove from stack (delete file) **For handed-off items:** - "Done?" → Update status to `done`, set `completed` date - "Still in progress?" → No change, note in meeting log - "Stuck?" → Note the blocker, optionally escalate urgency **For today-urgency items:** - Highlight with extra emphasis. These should be resolved or actively worked on by end of day. #### Step 4: Capture New Items After reviewing existing items: "Any new items to add to the stack?" If yes, follow Stack mode Steps 2-3 for each new item. #### Step 5: Save the Meeting Log Create a daily meeting log from `templates/assistance-daily.md`: - File: `data/assistance/daily/YYYY-MM-DD.md` - Fill in frontmatter: date, leader, assistant, counts - Populate the Stack Review table with decisions from Step 3 - Populate the New Items table from Step 4 - Record any action items discussed Show the complete meeting log before writing. Ask: "Save this daily meeting log?" #### Step 6: Update Stack Items After the meeting log is saved, update all stack item files based on the decisions: - Set `handed_off` date on newly handed-off items - Set `completed` date and status on done items - Update urgency if changed - Delete cancelled items Display a brief summary: ``` Daily standup complete: Handed off: 2 items Completed: 1 item Still pending: 3 items New items added: 1 Duration: ~10 minutes ``` --- ### Mode: Review Use when running the weekly review of The Assistance Track. This checks delegation health, identifies stuck items, and surfaces patterns. #### Step 1: Load All Data Read all stack items from `data/assistance/stack/` and all daily meeting logs from `data/assistance/daily/`. Parse YAML frontmatter for both. If no data exists: "No Assistance Track data found. Start by adding items with Stack mode and running Daily meetings." #### Step 2: Stack Health Summary ``` Assistance Track — Weekly Review ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Stack Status: Pending: 4 items Handed off: 3 items Completed this week: 5 items Total active: 7 items Urgency breakdown: Today: 1 item ⚠️ This week: 3 items Whenever: 3 items ``` #### Step 3: Flag Stuck Items Items that have been on the stack for more than 3 days without progress are flagged: ``` ⚠️ Stuck Items (3+ days without progress): stack-004: "Book travel for March" — handed_off 5 days ago → Consider: Follow up with [assistant], escalate urgency, or reassign stack-006: "Update CRM contacts" — pending 4 days ago → Consider: Has this been discussed in a daily meeting? ``` For each stuck item, offer options: - Escalate urgency (e.g., `whenever` → `this_week`) - Add a note about the blocker - Reassign to someone else - Close as no longer needed #### Step 4: Meeting Cadence Check Review daily meeting logs for the past week: ``` Daily Meeting Cadence: Meetings this week: 4 / 5 expected Missing: Wednesday (2026-02-12) Avg items per meeting: 3.5 Avg duration: 12 minutes ``` If fewer than 3 meetings in a week: "⚠️ Only [N] daily meetings this week. The daily standup is the core discipline — consistency matters more than perfection." #### Step 5: Delegation Trends If enough data exists (2+ weeks of daily meetings): ``` Delegation Trends (last 2 weeks): Items added: 12 Items completed: 8 Completion rate: 67% Avg time to completion: 2.3 days Most common urgency: this_week (58%) ``` #### Step 6: Cross-Reference with Delegate and Elevate Optionally read `data/delegate/` to check if any Quadrant 3 or 4 tasks from the D&E audit are showing up as stuck stack items. This connects strategic delegation decisions to daily execution: "Note: stack-004 'Book travel for March' relates to the Q3 task 'Travel logistics' from [person]'s D&E audit. Consider permanent delegation of this category." #### Step 7: Suggest Actions Based on the review, suggest 1-3 specific actions: ``` Suggested Actions: 1. Follow up on 2 stuck items (stack-004, stack-006) 2. Schedule the missed Wednesday daily meeting 3. Consider delegating 'travel logistics' permanently (shows up repeatedly) Would you like to take action on any of these? ``` ## Output Format **Stack:** Brief confirmation with item ID, title, urgency, and current stack count. **Daily:** Structured agenda sorted by urgency (today first), followed by pending, then in-progress. Interactive walkthrough with decisions recorded. Summary showing handoffs, completions, and new items. **Review:** Dashboard-style summary with stack health, stuck items, meeting cadence, and delegation trends. Actionable suggestions based on patterns. Complete data shown before any file modifications. ## Guardrails - **Always show the complete file before writing.** Never create or modify a stack item or meeting log without showing the content and getting approval. - **Don't auto-invoke other skills.** When review results suggest creating To-Dos or running D&E, mention the option but let the user decide. Say "Would you like to create a To-Do for this?" rather than doing it automatically. - **Sensitive data warning.** On first use in a session, remind the user: "Assistance Track data includes delegation details and daily meeting notes. This repo should be private." - **Respect the batch discipline.** Don't encourage adding items AND immediately handing them off. The point of The Stack is to batch — items should generally wait for the next daily meeting to be handed off. Exception: `today` urgency items may warrant immediate handoff. - **Don't micromanage the assistant.** Once an item is `handed_off`, trust the assistant. The Review mode flags stuck items, but the daily meeting is for status checks, not detailed oversight. - **One leader-assistant pair per session.** If the organization has multiple leaders with assistants, each session should focus on one relationship. Ask which pair at the start if ambiguous. - **Stack IDs are permanent.** Once a `stack-NNN` ID is assigned, it's never reused, even if the item is completed or deleted. This ensures meeting logs always reference valid IDs. ## Integration Notes ### Accountability Chart (ceos-accountability) - **Direction:** Read - **What data:** `data/accountability.md` — seat names, owners, reporting relationships - **Purpose:** Identifies the leader-assistant relationship. The assistant is typically the person in a seat with assistant-type responsibilities (Executive Assistant, Office Manager) who reports to the leader. If the accountability chart doesn't define this clearly, the user specifies the relationship. ### Delegate and Elevate (ceos-delegate) - **Direction:** Read - **What data:** `data/delegate/firstname-lastname.md` — quadrant assignments, delegation progress - **Purpose:** Review mode cross-references stuck stack items with Q3/Q4 tasks from D&E audits. Recurring stack items in the same category may indicate a task that should be permanently delegated rather than repeatedly stacked. This connects strategic delegation decisions to daily operational execution. ### To-Dos (ceos-todos) - **Direction:** Related - **What data:** `data/todos/` — actions from the daily meeting can be promoted to tracked To-Dos via `ceos-todos` - **Purpose:** Some items from the daily standup may need formal tracking with due dates and completion rates beyond the stack's simpler lifecycle. Currently stored as action items in the meeting log. ### Write Principle **Only `ceos-assistance` writes to `data/assistance/`.** Other skills may reference assistance data for delegation context, but do not modify stack items or daily meeting logs.