--- name: ceos-clarity description: Use when taking a Clarity Break — stepping back from day-to-day work for strategic thinking time file-access: [data/clarity/, templates/clarity-break.md, data/vision.md, data/rocks/, data/scorecard/, data/issues/open/, data/accountability.md] tools-used: [Read, Write, Glob] --- # ceos-clarity Facilitate the Clarity Break — one of the Five Leadership Abilities in EOS and a core Traction tool. A Clarity Break is scheduled time to step away from day-to-day work and think strategically: "work ON the business, not IN it." Unlike structured EOS tools, the Clarity Break is intentionally unstructured — this skill provides just enough framework to make it habitual without over-formalizing it. ## When to Use - "Clarity break" or "take a clarity break" - "Step back and think about the business" - "Strategic thinking time" or "work on the business" - "I need to reflect on the business" - "Review how things are going" (in a reflective, non-meeting context) - "Log a clarity break" or "record my reflections" - "Show clarity break history" or "what themes keep coming up?" ## 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/clarity/YYYY-MM-DD.md` | Clarity Break notes (one per session) | | `data/vision.md` | V/TO for strategic context | | `data/rocks/[quarter]/` | Current Rocks for progress context | | `data/scorecard/weeks/` | Recent scorecard data for trend context | | `data/issues/open/` | Open issues for awareness context | | `templates/clarity-break.md` | Template for new Clarity Break files | | `data/accountability.md` | Accountability Chart (org structure for strategic context) | ### File Naming Clarity Break files use date-based naming: `YYYY-MM-DD.md` If a file already exists for today's date (e.g., a second Clarity Break in the same day), append a numeric suffix: `YYYY-MM-DD-2.md`, `YYYY-MM-DD-3.md`, etc. ### YAML Frontmatter Schema ```yaml date: "2026-02-14" person: "brad" duration: "45 min" # How long the Clarity Break lasted (filled at end) themes: # Key themes identified during reflection - hiring - product-market-fit issues_identified: # Issues to bring to the next L10 - "Sales pipeline is too dependent on one channel" ``` ## Process ### Mode: Start Guide a live Clarity Break session — gathering business context, prompting reflection, and capturing insights. #### Step 1: Setup 1. **Person**: Ask who is taking the Clarity Break. Default to the user if a solo session. 2. **Date**: Use today's date. 3. **Collision check**: If `data/clarity/YYYY-MM-DD.md` already exists, check for the next available suffix. 4. Create the file path but don't write yet — the file is written at the end. #### Step 2: Gather Context (State of the Business) Read current data to provide a strategic snapshot. Keep each section to 2-3 lines — this is context, not a report. 1. **V/TO check**: Read `data/vision.md`. Summarize the 1-Year Plan and current progress. 2. **Rock status**: Read `data/rocks/[current-quarter]/`. Count on_track vs off_track. List any off-track Rocks. 3. **Scorecard trends**: Read the 2-3 most recent files in `data/scorecard/weeks/`. Note any metrics consistently off-track. 4. **Open issues**: Read `data/issues/open/`. Count total open issues. List the 3-5 highest priority ones. 5. **Org structure**: Read `data/accountability.md`. Note any unfilled seats or gaps relevant to the reflection topics. Present the summary: ``` State of the Business ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 1-Year Plan: [brief summary from V/TO] Rocks: 4/6 on track (Q1 2026) Off track: Hire VP Sales, Partner Program Scorecard: Revenue on track, NPS off track 3 weeks running Open Issues: 8 total — top 3: [issue titles] ``` If any data source is missing (no vision.md, no rocks, etc.), note it gracefully: "No [data type] on file yet." and continue. Ask: "Want to review any of this in detail before we start reflecting, or shall we dive in?" #### Step 3: Reflection Present the four Clarity Break questions, one at a time. Give the user space to think — don't rush through them. 1. **"What's working well?"** — Celebrate wins. What should we keep doing or do more of? 2. **"What's not working?"** — Be honest. What's broken, frustrating, or draining energy? 3. **"What's missing?"** — What are we not doing that we should be? Gaps in people, process, or strategy? 4. **"What needs to change?"** — If you could change one thing about the business right now, what would it be? Record the user's responses under each question. Don't analyze or problem-solve during the reflection — the goal is to surface thoughts, not fix things yet. #### Step 4: Issues and Actions After the four reflection questions: 1. Ask: "Did any new issues surface that should go on the Issues list for the next L10?" 2. If yes, capture them in the `issues_identified` frontmatter list. 3. Mention: "You can create formal issue files for these using `ceos-ids` when you're ready." #### Step 5: Themes Review the notes and suggest 2-4 themes — recurring topics or categories that emerged during the reflection. Ask the user to confirm or adjust. Record in the `themes` frontmatter list. #### Step 6: Wrap Up and Save 1. Ask how long the Clarity Break took (for `duration` frontmatter). 2. Show the complete file before writing. 3. Ask for any final edits. 4. Write to `data/clarity/YYYY-MM-DD.md`. 5. Remind: "Run `git commit` to save your Clarity Break notes." --- ### Mode: Log Record a Clarity Break that already happened (retroactive logging). #### Step 1: Collect Details Ask for: - **Date**: When did the Clarity Break happen? Default to today. - **Person**: Who took it? - **Duration**: How long was it? #### Step 2: Capture Insights Prompt for key reflections: - "What were the main things on your mind?" - "Any insights or realizations?" - "Did any issues surface that should go to the next L10?" Record responses in the markdown body. #### Step 3: Themes and Issues 1. Suggest 2-4 themes based on the notes. 2. Capture any issues in `issues_identified`. 3. Mention `ceos-ids` for formal issue creation. #### Step 4: Save 1. Show the complete file. 2. Write to `data/clarity/YYYY-MM-DD.md` (with collision handling). 3. Remind about git commit. --- ### Mode: History Review past Clarity Break notes and identify recurring themes. #### Step 1: Load Clarity Breaks Read all files in `data/clarity/`. Parse the YAML frontmatter from each file. If no files exist: "No Clarity Breaks recorded yet. Want to start one?" #### Step 2: Filter (Optional) If the user specifies a person or date range, filter accordingly. Otherwise show all. #### Step 3: Display Summary Show a chronological list: ``` Clarity Break History ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 2026-02-14 brad (45 min) Themes: hiring, product-market-fit 2026-02-07 brad (30 min) Themes: sales-pipeline, hiring 2026-01-31 brad (60 min) Themes: product-market-fit, team-culture 2026-01-24 daniel (45 min) Themes: operations, hiring Total: 4 Clarity Breaks ``` #### Step 4: Recurring Themes Scan the `themes` frontmatter across all Clarity Breaks. Identify themes that appear in 3 or more sessions: ``` Recurring Themes (3+ appearances) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ hiring: 3 times (Feb 14, Feb 7, Jan 24) product-market-fit: 2 times (Feb 14, Jan 31) ``` Flag recurring themes: "These themes keep coming up. Consider surfacing them as formal Issues via `ceos-ids` if they haven't been addressed." #### Step 5: Deep Dive (Optional) Offer: "Want to open a specific Clarity Break to review the full notes?" If yes, read and display the full file content. ## Output Format **Start mode:** State of the business summary, then guided reflection. Complete file shown at the end. **Log mode:** Prompts for retroactive capture, then complete file shown. **History mode:** Chronological summary table with recurring themes analysis. ## Guardrails - **Don't over-structure the reflection.** The Clarity Break is intentionally unstructured thinking time. Present the four questions as prompts, not a rigid checklist. If the user wants to free-form write, let them. - **Context is optional.** If the user says "just let me think" or "skip the context," go straight to the reflection questions. Not every Clarity Break needs a state-of-the-business review. - **Don't solve problems during the Clarity Break.** The goal is to surface thoughts, not fix things. Problem-solving happens in the L10 via IDS. If the user starts problem-solving, gently redirect: "Great insight — want to capture that as an issue for the next L10?" - **Don't auto-invoke skills.** When issues surface during a Clarity Break, mention that `ceos-ids` can create formal issue files, but let the user decide. Same for scorecard updates (`ceos-scorecard`) or rock status changes (`ceos-rocks`). - **One file per session.** Each Clarity Break produces one file. Don't update previous Clarity Break files — if themes evolved, that's captured in the new file. - **Sensitive data warning.** On first use, remind the user: "Clarity Break notes may contain candid strategic reflections and sensitive business assessments. Use a private repo." ## Integration Notes ### V/TO (ceos-vto) - **Read:** `ceos-clarity` reads `data/vision.md` during Start mode to provide 1-Year Plan context for the strategic reflection. This grounds the Clarity Break in the company's declared direction. - **Suggested flow:** If the Clarity Break reveals the V/TO needs updating, suggest: "Consider reviewing the V/TO with `ceos-vto`." ### Rocks (ceos-rocks) - **Read:** `ceos-clarity` reads `data/rocks/[current-quarter]/` during Start mode to show Rock progress. Off-track Rocks often surface as reflection topics. - **Suggested flow:** Rock status changes belong in `ceos-rocks`, not in Clarity Break notes. ### Scorecard (ceos-scorecard) - **Read:** `ceos-clarity` reads recent files from `data/scorecard/weeks/` during Start mode to identify trending metrics. Persistent off-track numbers are natural Clarity Break topics. - **Suggested flow:** Scorecard logging stays in `ceos-scorecard`. ### Issues (ceos-ids) - **Read:** `ceos-clarity` reads `data/issues/open/` during Start mode to show the current issues landscape. Issues identified during a Clarity Break are captured in frontmatter but NOT automatically created as issue files. - **Suggested flow:** After the Clarity Break, use `ceos-ids` to create formal issue files for anything worth tracking. ### L10 Meetings (ceos-l10) - **Related:** Clarity Break insights are designed to feed into the next L10 meeting. Issues identified during a Clarity Break can be raised during the L10's IDS section. - **Suggested flow:** Mention any unresolved Clarity Break issues during the L10. The L10 skill will surface them from `data/issues/open/` if they've been formally created. ### Accountability Chart (ceos-accountability) - **Read:** `ceos-clarity` reads `data/accountability.md` during Start mode to surface org structure context — unfilled seats, responsibility gaps, or role misalignments that may be worth reflecting on. - **Suggested flow:** If the Clarity Break reveals accountability gaps, suggest: "Consider reviewing the Accountability Chart with `ceos-accountability`." ### Write Principle Only `ceos-clarity` writes to `data/clarity/`. Other skills do not reference Clarity Break notes directly — they are personal reflections, not operational data.