Executive summary prompt builder
Executives read the summary, not the report. This builder generates a prompt that produces a disciplined SCQA executive summary — Situation, Complication, Question, Answer — that leads with the recommendation, fits your word budget, and ends with owned next steps. Optionally it adds a key-decision callout that tells the reader exactly what choice is being asked of them.
How it works
You describe the document type, pick an audience level, set a word cap, and flag whether a decision is required. The tool builds a prompt instructing the model to write labeled SCQA sections, lead with the answer, quantify where the source supports it, and append two to four concrete next steps. If a decision is required, it adds a one-line callout naming the decision and options. You paste your real document into the placeholder before running. Everything is generated in your browser.
How SCQA works in practice
SCQA (Situation, Complication, Question, Answer) is a reader-first framing developed for executive communication. It works because it respects how senior readers actually process documents:
- Situation establishes the shared context in one or two sentences — what everyone already knows. It reassures the reader that you are on common ground.
- Complication introduces the new information that disrupts the status quo — the problem, risk, or opportunity that makes this summary necessary.
- Question names the question the complication raises, setting up the answer. Often this is implicit (the reader supplies it), but making it explicit helps.
- Answer leads with the recommendation or finding — the conclusion the reader needs to act on. This is the core of the “lead with the answer” principle.
In a well-constructed SCQA executive summary, a reader who only has thirty seconds can read the Answer line and have everything they need to decide. The detail beneath supports, not carries, the communication.
When to enable the decision callout
The decision callout adds a single sentence that names the specific choice being requested: for example, “Decision needed: approve, defer, or reject the proposed timeline.” Use it when:
- The reader has authority to approve or reject
- The options are finite and nameable
- You want to prevent the summary from being read as “informational” when you actually need a decision
Leave it off for progress updates, briefings, and reports where no choice is being asked of the reader.
Tips and notes
- Match the altitude. A board summary should be shorter and more decision-focused than one for cross-functional managers — set the audience accordingly.
- Keep it tight. Lower word caps force the model to prioritize; for senior readers, under 250 words is usually right.
- Give it a conclusion to summarize. SCQA needs an answer in the source. If the document is raw data, draw the conclusion first.
- Edit the answer line. The recommendation is yours to own — verify the model stated it correctly before sending.
- Do not skip next steps. “What happens next” is what converts a good summary into action. The prompt includes two to four owned next steps by default.