ceo-orchestration 1.0.0

package/.claude/skills/domains/project-management/skills/studio-operations/SKILL.md

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+---
+name: studio-operations
+description: >
+  Creative studio and agency operations discipline covering utilisation tracking,
+  billable-rate enforcement, capacity planning, project profitability per client,
+  retainer-vs-project revenue mix, freelance-network management, and studio-margin
+  economics. Provides the operational scaffolding that converts creative output into
+  sustainable business performance. Use when a studio lacks visibility into team
+  utilisation or billable rates, when project margins are unmeasured, when a single
+  client dominates revenue exposure, when freelancers are engaged without paper trail
+  or IP assignment, or when capacity decisions are made without 90-day forward data.
+owner: Morgan Calloway (Studio Operations Manager, domain persona)
+tier: domain:project-management
+scope_tags: [studio-operations, utilisation-tracking, capacity-planning, project-profitability, retainer-mix, freelance-network]
+inspired_by:
+  - source: msitarzewski/agency-agents/project-management/project-management-studio-operations.md@783f6a72bfd7f3135700ac273c619d92821b419a
+    license: MIT
+    relationship: structural_inspiration
+    authored_by: ceo-orchestration framework
+    authored_at: 2026-05-07
+# --- smart-loading fields (PLAN-083 Wave 0b sub-agent 0.7c) ---
+domain: project-management
+priority: 8
+risk_class: low
+stack: []
+context_budget_tokens: 600
+inactive_but_retained: true
+repo_profile_binding:
+  frontend: {active: false, priority: 10}
+  engine: {active: false, priority: 10}
+  fintech: {active: false, priority: 10}
+  trading-readonly: {active: false, priority: 10}
+  generic: {active: false, priority: 10}
+activation_triggers: []
+# --- K1 paths: native file-touch activation (PLAN-135 W3 unit k1a) ---
+paths:
+  - "**/studio-ops/**"
+  - "**/capacity/**"
+  - "**/utilization/**"
+---
+
+# Studio Operations
+
+## Cardinal Rule
+
+Studio economics are determined by the spread between billable rate realised and
+fully-loaded cost per hour — every operational decision either protects that spread
+or erodes it. Utilisation and margin are measurements, not targets; they are symptoms
+of how well scope, staffing, and rate discipline are maintained across every
+engagement. A studio that does not measure these continuously cannot manage them.
+
+## Fail-Fast Rule
+
+If project margin cannot be calculated before a project enters execution, the project
+does not enter execution. Scope accepted without a budget model produces margin
+surprises that cannot be recovered downstream. If a client engagement requires scope
+reduction to preserve margin, that conversation happens before the first deliverable
+is committed, not after the invoice is disputed.
+
+## When to Apply
+
+- A studio or agency team needs baseline utilisation visibility by role or discipline.
+- Billable rates are applied inconsistently or discounted without scope reduction.
+- Capacity decisions for the next quarter are made without forward-demand data.
+- Per-project profitability has never been tracked or is tracked only at invoice time.
+- Retainer-vs-project revenue mix is unmanaged and creates cash-flow volatility.
+- Freelancers are engaged on verbal agreements or without IP assignment documentation.
+- A single client represents more than 25 percent of total studio revenue.
+- Gross margin has drifted below 50 percent without a documented causal analysis.
+
+## Utilisation Tracking
+
+Utilisation is the proportion of available hours that are applied to billable work.
+It is not a proxy for productivity, output quality, or team health; confusing
+utilisation with productivity is the root cause of the most common studio burnout
+pattern.
+
+### Target Rate by Role
+
+Target utilisation differs by role because the work mix differs:
+
+| Role tier | Target billable utilisation | Rationale |
+|---|---|---|
+| Senior practitioner | 65–70% | Client-facing strategic work; remaining capacity held for internal IP, mentoring, and BD support |
+| Mid practitioner | 70–75% | Primary delivery capacity; bench time covers ramp and skill development |
+| Junior practitioner | 75–80% | High-execution workload; buffer for review cycles and structured learning |
+| Studio operations / PM | 20–35% directly billable | Primarily overhead function; partial project management may bill at client-project rate |
+
+### Billable vs PD vs Admin Split
+
+Every worked hour is classified weekly into three categories: billable (client
+project), professional development (internal skill-building, tooling, portfolio),
+or admin (internal meetings, studio management, non-billable coordination). The
+split is recorded, not estimated at quarter-end. Retroactive reclassification is
+a reporting failure, not a correction.
+
+### Weekly Reporting Cadence
+
+Utilisation data is collected and visible to studio leadership on a weekly basis.
+Monthly or quarterly utilisation reports operate on data too stale to inform
+resourcing decisions. A studio that discovers an underbilling pattern at month-end
+has already lost the revenue.
+
+### Utilisation Ceiling
+
+Sustained billable utilisation above 80 percent for any role is a risk signal, not
+a performance signal. Capacity above 80 percent leaves no buffer for scope-creep
+absorption, quality review cycles, sick leave, or unexpected client escalations.
+A studio running above 80 percent sustained is borrowing against team health.
+
+## Billable-Rate Discipline
+
+Rate cards are the studio's pricing architecture. They encode the value delivered
+per role relative to market rate and studio cost structure. Rates that drift through
+informal discounting destroy margin without a corresponding scope signal.
+
+### Per-Role Rate Card
+
+Each billable role carries a published rate. The rate card is reviewed at minimum
+annually against market benchmarks and studio cost structure. A role whose market
+rate has moved more than 15 percent since the last review is repriced on new
+engagements; existing retainers are renegotiated at renewal.
+
+### Blended-Rate Discipline
+
+Blended rates (a single rate applied across a project regardless of role mix) are
+used only when the scope requires it contractually. When a blended rate is applied,
+the underlying role-mix assumption is documented and tracked. If the actual role
+mix diverges from the assumption by more than 10 percent of total hours, the blended
+rate is reviewed mid-project.
+
+### Rate-Discount Rule
+
+A discount to the published rate is approved only when accompanied by a documented
+scope reduction, a volume commitment that justifies the rate, or a strategic account
+classification ratified by studio leadership. An informal discount granted to avoid
+scope negotiation is a scope-creep subsidy paid from margin. No rate discount is
+applied without a written record of the justification.
+
+## Capacity Planning
+
+Capacity planning is the discipline of matching available studio capacity to forward
+demand before demand arrives, not after. Reactive staffing — hiring when overwhelmed
+or cutting when idle — destroys both talent retention and margin predictability.
+
+### 90-Day Forward Staffing
+
+Capacity is modelled 90 days forward by role and discipline. Inputs are confirmed
+retainers, pipeline-stage-weighted project starts, and historical demand seasonality.
+The model is refreshed monthly. A capacity gap identified at 60 days is manageable;
+a gap identified at 10 days is a crisis.
+
+### Bench Economics
+
+Bench capacity — time held by salaried staff not allocated to billable or PD work —
+has a direct cost. Bench is acceptable in limited quantities as a buffer and ramp
+resource; bench that persists beyond 4–6 weeks for a given role is either a hiring
+error or a demand forecasting failure. Both are corrected, not carried.
+
+### Per-Skill-Set Demand Forecasting
+
+Capacity planning tracks demand by skill set, not only by headcount. A studio that
+is at full headcount but short on a specific specialisation (motion, data
+visualisation, content strategy) has a capacity gap invisible to headcount-only
+models. Skill-set demand is tracked in the capacity model as a distinct dimension.
+
+### Bench Decay Prevention
+
+An unallocated staff member whose bench time exceeds 3 weeks without an assigned PD
+plan or a confirmed upcoming project is escalating. Bench time without a plan is
+attrition risk and skill stagnation; it is addressed within the weekly resource
+review, not deferred to the next 1:1 cycle.
+
+## Project Profitability
+
+Per-project profitability is measured during execution, not at invoice. A project
+whose margin is discovered post-delivery cannot be corrected. Margin tracking during
+execution enables scope-creep intervention before the damage is absorbed.
+
+### Per-Project Margin Model
+
+Every project carries a budget model that converts scope to hours by role, applies
+the role rate card, and derives an expected gross margin. The model is live — actual
+hours logged are compared to the budget weekly. A project that has consumed 60
+percent of the hour budget at 40 percent of scope completion triggers a scope review.
+
+### Scope-Creep Detection
+
+Scope creep is detected by tracking hours per deliverable against the scoped estimate,
+not by tracking total project hours against a lump-sum budget. Lump-sum tracking
+masks where creep is occurring. Per-deliverable tracking identifies the work item
+driving overrun and supports a change-order conversation grounded in evidence.
+
+### Change-Order Discipline
+
+When scope expands beyond the contracted definition, a change order is raised before
+the additional work is executed. A change order documents the scope addition, the
+incremental hour and cost estimate, and the revised margin impact. Work executed
+without a change order in place is margin written off. The change-order threshold
+is set by studio policy, not by individual project lead discretion.
+
+### Scope-Creep Absorption Rule
+
+Scope creep is never absorbed silently. A client relationship that depends on
+uncompensated scope expansion is a loss-leader relationship that is explicitly
+classified and reviewed against strategic account criteria. Silent absorption as a
+client satisfaction strategy is not a strategy — it is deferred recognition of a
+margin problem.
+
+## Retainer-vs-Project Mix
+
+Retainer revenue provides monthly cash-flow predictability and reduces pipeline
+pressure on new project starts. Project revenue provides upside and margin optionality.
+Both are necessary; managing the ratio is a studio-level strategic decision.
+
+### Revenue Mix Targets
+
+Studios with fewer than twenty full-time equivalents benefit from retainer coverage
+of 40–60 percent of monthly revenue. Below 40 percent, cash-flow variance makes
+staffing decisions reactive. Above 70 percent, retainer rate compression risk and
+scope-drift risk accumulate across the portfolio.
+
+### Retainer Scope Management
+
+A retainer that has accrued informal scope additions over two or more renewal cycles
+has become an underpriced project. Retainer scope is audited at every renewal against
+the original statement of work. Additions are formalised, priced, and included in the
+renewed rate.
+
+### Single-Client Revenue Concentration
+
+No single client represents more than 25 percent of total studio revenue. A client
+above this threshold is a concentration risk: a pause, budget cut, or relationship
+change at that client creates a studio-level cash-flow event. Concentration above
+25 percent is a documented risk requiring an active diversification plan, not a
+revenue achievement to be celebrated.
+
+### Minimum Viable Retainer Size
+
+Retainers below a minimum viable size (typically four to eight hours per month per
+discipline) create administrative overhead disproportionate to revenue. Below-threshold
+retainers are declined or converted to project engagements.
+
+## Freelance-Network Management
+
+A freelance network extends studio capacity without fixed overhead. It also extends
+studio liability if not managed with the same rigour applied to permanent staff.
+
+### Vetted Bench Requirement
+
+Freelancers engaged for client work must be on the studio's vetted bench before being
+introduced into a client-facing workflow. Vetting covers quality portfolio review,
+one or more paid internal test assignments, reference verification, and documentation
+completion. An unvetted freelancer introduced directly to client work is a quality
+and relationship risk with no prior evidence baseline.
+
+### Required Paper Trail
+
+Every freelance engagement carries a written agreement covering: scope, deliverable
+definition, rate, payment terms, confidentiality, IP assignment, and data-handling
+obligations. A verbal agreement or email thread is not a freelance contract. Absence
+of IP assignment is a downstream IP ownership dispute.
+
+### IP Assignment
+
+All work product created by a freelancer for a client engagement is assigned to the
+studio (or directly to the client per the client contract) in writing before work
+begins. A freelancer who has not signed an IP assignment agreement does not begin
+client-facing work.
+
+### Data-Handling Obligations
+
+Freelancers who access client data, brand assets, or confidential materials sign a
+data-handling addendum specifying access scope, retention limits, and deletion
+obligations at engagement end. This applies to all client work regardless of
+project sensitivity. Data-handling obligations are not optional for low-sensitivity
+engagements.
+
+## Studio-Margin Economics
+
+Gross margin is the primary financial health indicator for a service studio. It
+measures the spread between revenue and the direct cost of delivery before studio
+overhead. A studio that does not track gross margin by client is managing revenue
+without managing the business.
+
+### Gross Margin Target
+
+Target gross margin for a healthy creative studio is above 50 percent. Margin below
+40 percent on a sustained basis indicates rate compression, scope-creep absorption,
+or delivery inefficiency that cannot be sustained without structural intervention.
+Margin above 65 percent indicates either exceptional rate positioning or under-investment
+in delivery quality — both warrant examination.
+
+### Per-Client Margin Variance
+
+Gross margin is tracked per client, not only at portfolio level. A portfolio-average
+margin of 52 percent can mask individual client relationships at 20 percent that are
+subsidised by relationships at 70 percent. Per-client visibility enables renegotiation
+or relationship reclassification decisions grounded in data rather than perception.
+
+### Loss-Leader Risk
+
+A client relationship classified as a loss-leader — accepted below target margin
+for strategic, referral, or portfolio reasons — is a documented decision with explicit
+exit criteria: a timeline by which the relationship either reprices to target margin
+or is wound down. An undocumented loss-leader is a permanent subsidy.
+
+## Anti-patterns
+
+| Anti-pattern | Detection signal | Corrective action |
+|---|---|---|
+| Utilisation above 80% treated as success | Senior staff booking 85%+ for three or more consecutive weeks with no PD or buffer time | Redistribute load; initiate capacity planning conversation before burnout manifests |
+| Scope-creep absorbed silently | Project hours overrun budget by 15%+ without a change order raised | Audit per-deliverable hours; raise change order retroactively or reclassify as loss-leader with documented exit criteria |
+| Single client above 25% revenue | Monthly client revenue concentration review shows one client exceeding threshold | Initiate active diversification plan; set 18-month reduction target; document risk |
+| Freelance engagement without paper trail | Freelancer starts client work before agreement and IP assignment are countersigned | Halt client-facing work; complete documentation; apply vetted-bench requirement retroactively to all active freelancers |
+| Bench allowed to rot | Staff member unallocated beyond 3 weeks without PD plan or upcoming project | Assign to structured internal project or PD track within 5 business days; escalate if pipeline cannot absorb within 30 days |
+| Project margin not tracked during execution | Margin is first calculated at invoice stage; no per-deliverable hour tracking in progress | Implement per-project budget model with weekly actuals; enforce tracking at PM level, not finance level |
+| Rate discounted without scope reduction | Client rate below card with no documented volume commitment, scope reduction, or strategic account rationale | Require written justification for all below-card rates; enforce change-order discipline on scope additions post-discount |
+
+## Cross-References
+
+- `domains/business-support/skills/finance-tracker` — studio-level P&L, cash-flow
+  forecasting, and cost structure modelling that sits above per-project margin tracking.
+- `domains/project-management/skills/project-shepherd` — individual project execution
+  discipline including scope management, milestone tracking, and stakeholder communication.
+- `domains/sales/skills/proposal-strategist` — pricing narrative and profitability
+  assumptions that feed directly into the per-project margin model at proposal stage.
+
+## ADR Anchors
+
+- **ADR-058** — Domain skill authoring standards; governs tier assignment, scope_tags
+  format, frontmatter required fields, and the structural_inspiration relationship
+  classification used in `inspired_by` entries for this file.

package/.claude/skills/domains/project-management/skills/studio-producer/SKILL.md

@@ -0,0 +1,329 @@
+---
+name: studio-producer
+description: |
+  Creative-project producer discipline — scope definition, creative-brief
+  authoring, talent and vendor selection, schedule and budget management,
+  delivery cadence, client expectations management, and post-mortem.
+  Use when: initiating a creative engagement that requires a signed scope
+  document before any production work begins; authoring a creative brief
+  that must be falsifiable against KPIs; selecting talent or vendors for
+  a time-boxed production sprint; running a weekly burn-down against a
+  phased production schedule; managing a client relationship where verbal
+  scope changes are accumulating; or closing a project with a structured
+  retrospective that feeds the skills library.
+owner: Renata Voss (Studio Producer, domain persona)
+tier: domain:project-management
+scope_tags: [studio-producer, creative-brief, schedule-management, budget-management, vendor-selection, client-expectations]
+inspired_by:
+  - source: msitarzewski/agency-agents/project-management/project-management-studio-producer.md@783f6a72bfd7f3135700ac273c619d92821b419a
+    license: MIT
+    relationship: structural_inspiration
+    authored_by: ceo-orchestration framework
+    authored_at: 2026-05-07
+# --- smart-loading fields (PLAN-083 Wave 0b sub-agent 0.7c) ---
+domain: project-management
+priority: 8
+risk_class: low
+stack: []
+context_budget_tokens: 600
+inactive_but_retained: true
+repo_profile_binding:
+  frontend: {active: false, priority: 10}
+  engine: {active: false, priority: 10}
+  fintech: {active: false, priority: 10}
+  trading-readonly: {active: false, priority: 10}
+  generic: {active: false, priority: 10}
+activation_triggers: []
+# --- K1 paths: native file-touch activation (PLAN-135 W3 unit k1a) ---
+paths:
+  - "**/creative-briefs/**"
+  - "**/production/**"
+  - "**/post-mortems/**"
+---
+
+# Studio Producer
+
+## Cardinal Rule
+
+Scope undefined is scope unbounded; the producer who cannot say "no" on
+day one will say "we need more time" on day thirty. Every creative
+engagement begins with a written, signed scope document. No brief is
+authored, no talent is engaged, no schedule is built, and no budget is
+allocated until that document exists and carries explicit client sign-off.
+All outputs from this skill are subject to the two-pass review gate
+(ADR-058).
+
+## Fail-Fast Rule
+
+Stop and return a structured failure when any of the following is true:
+
+- A creative brief is being authored without a defined problem statement,
+  target audience, and at least one falsifiable KPI; a brief that cannot
+  be evaluated against objective criteria is an opinion document, not a
+  production instrument.
+- A production milestone is being scheduled without contingency reserve
+  of at least 15 percent; schedules without contingency are commitments
+  made on behalf of luck.
+- A talent or vendor is being engaged under deadline pressure without a
+  portfolio review and at least one reference call; deadline pressure does
+  not reduce the probability of a quality miss — it amplifies it.
+- A verbal scope change from a client is being absorbed into production
+  without written confirmation; verbal changes are not scope changes until
+  documented.
+- A project is being closed without a post-mortem scheduled; institutional
+  learning that is not captured is lost permanently.
+
+Never allow delivery pressure to compress the scope-definition or
+brief-authoring phase; compression at the front of a production cycle
+produces re-work at the back at a rate that consistently exceeds the
+time saved.
+
+## When to Apply
+
+Apply this skill when:
+
+- A creative project is being initiated and scope boundaries, deliverable
+  formats, revision counts, and out-of-scope exclusions have not been
+  formally documented and signed.
+- A creative brief must be authored for an internal or external creative
+  team and the brief must be treated as a falsifiable production contract
+  rather than a mood board.
+- Talent or vendors must be selected for a production sprint and the
+  selection must be defensible against portfolio evidence, reference
+  feedback, and rate fit.
+- A production schedule is being built and per-stage milestones,
+  contingency allocation, and burn-down cadence must be established before
+  creative work begins.
+- Client communications are accumulating scope requests and a protocol for
+  written confirmation, change-order issuance, and schedule impact
+  assessment is needed.
+- A project has concluded and a structured retrospective must be captured
+  in the skills library before the team disperses.
+
+Do not apply this skill to product-roadmap management or engineering
+sprint planning; route those contexts to
+`domains/project-management/skills/project-shepherd` or
+`core/engineering-practices`.
+
+## Scope Definition Discipline
+
+Scope is defined before any other production activity. A scope document
+that is missing any of the four components below is incomplete and cannot
+serve as the basis for scheduling, budgeting, or talent engagement.
+
+**Required scope components:**
+
+| Component | Definition | Failure signal |
+|-----------|-----------|----------------|
+| Deliverable list | Enumerated outputs with format, resolution, and file-type specification | "Assets as needed" or open-ended output descriptions |
+| Format specification | Per-deliverable technical requirements (dimensions, codec, file format, platform destination) | Missing technical spec for any deliverable |
+| Revisions allowed | Numeric limit per deliverable per production phase | No revision cap or "unlimited revisions" language |
+| Out-of-scope explicit | Written list of what the engagement does NOT produce | Absence of exclusions; exclusions are not implied by inclusions |
+
+**Scope sign-off protocol:**
+
+The scope document is presented in writing, reviewed with the client in
+a synchronous session, and signed before the project enters the brief-
+authoring phase. Partial sign-off (client approves some scope components
+verbally) does not constitute sign-off. A project that enters production
+without a signed scope document is operating outside this skill's
+governance and any resulting schedule or budget deviation is attributable
+to that gap.
+
+## Creative Brief Authoring
+
+A creative brief is a falsifiable production contract. A brief that
+cannot be evaluated against objective criteria at delivery is a
+preferences document and cannot govern revision disputes.
+
+**Required brief components:**
+
+| Component | Content | Falsifiability requirement |
+|-----------|---------|---------------------------|
+| Problem to solve | Business or communication problem the creative must resolve | Must be testable at delivery (e.g., "increase email open rate by 15 pp") |
+| Target audience | Demographic, psychographic, and behavioral specification | Must be specific enough to exclude; "everyone" is not a target |
+| Core message | Single claim the audience must retain after exposure | Must be evaluable via recall or comprehension test |
+| Mandatory elements | Brand marks, legal copy, required assets, platform specs | Enumerated; no "per brand guidelines" pass-throughs |
+| Constraints | Budget ceiling, timeline, technology, and rights restrictions | Numeric and specific; "reasonable budget" is not a constraint |
+| KPI | Quantified success metric tied to the problem statement | Numeric and time-bounded; "improve awareness" is not a KPI |
+
+**Brief revision protocol:**
+
+Revisions to the brief after creative production has begun are scope
+changes. Each post-production-start brief revision triggers a change-
+order request, a schedule impact assessment, and a budget impact
+assessment before work on the revised direction begins. Brief revisions
+that are absorbed without a change order are scope creep with a polite
+name.
+
+## Talent and Vendor Selection
+
+Talent and vendor selection is a deliberate process governed by
+portfolio evidence, reference feedback, and rate fit evaluated
+against the production scope. The selection decision is documented
+before any engagement begins.
+
+**Per-discipline evaluation criteria:**
+
+- **Portfolio review:** Minimum three comparable projects in the
+  discipline; comparable means matching deliverable type, format
+  complexity, and production scale — not matching aesthetic preference.
+- **Reference call:** At least one client reference for a project of
+  comparable scope; the reference call is structured around three
+  questions: quality of final deliverable, adherence to schedule, and
+  communication under pressure.
+- **Rate fit:** Rate is evaluated against the project budget after
+  portfolio and reference criteria are satisfied; rate is never the
+  primary filter because it selects for unavailability.
+
+**Prohibitions:**
+
+- Blind engagement under deadline pressure: deadline urgency increases
+  the operational risk of a quality miss and does not constitute
+  justification for skipping portfolio or reference review.
+- Single-source engagement: any discipline that has only one evaluated
+  candidate carries unmitigated delivery risk; bench depth of at least
+  two qualified candidates per discipline is required before production
+  begins.
+- Retroactive rate negotiation: rates are agreed in writing before work
+  begins; retroactive rate changes after delivery are relationship-
+  damaging and operationally unjustifiable.
+
+## Schedule and Budget Management
+
+Schedules and budgets are built per production phase, with contingency
+allocated before the first deliverable is due. A schedule without
+contingency is a plan to be late.
+
+**Per-phase milestone structure:**
+
+Each production phase requires: a defined input (what must be true to
+begin), a defined output (what constitutes completion), a duration in
+working days, a contingency allocation expressed as a percentage of
+phase duration, and an assigned owner. Phases without defined inputs or
+outputs cannot be tracked to completion.
+
+**Contingency allocation rules:**
+
+- Minimum 15 percent contingency on any single-phase duration.
+- Minimum 20 percent contingency on total project schedule for projects
+  with three or more external dependencies (client approvals, third-party
+  assets, platform submissions).
+- Contingency is a planning instrument, not a slack buffer; contingency
+  consumed by avoidable delays is a signal of scope-definition or
+  brief-authoring failure, not schedule conservatism.
+
+**Weekly burn-down discipline:**
+
+- Weekly burn-down review is mandatory from project kickoff to delivery.
+- Burn-down report includes: budget consumed to date, budget remaining,
+  schedule days consumed, schedule days remaining, and a risk flag for
+  any phase that has consumed more than 110 percent of its planned
+  duration.
+- A late flag is issued the moment a phase exceeds its planned duration
+  plus contingency, not after the phase is complete. Late flags are
+  communicated to the client proactively before the client asks.
+
+## Delivery Cadence
+
+Delivery is governed by review checkpoints and per-phase sign-off.
+No subsequent phase begins without sign-off on the preceding phase.
+
+**Review checkpoint requirements:**
+
+- Internal QA review before any deliverable is presented to the client;
+  deliverables that have not passed internal QA are not client-ready
+  regardless of deadline pressure.
+- Per-phase client review session: synchronous, agenda-prepared, with
+  feedback captured in writing during the session and confirmed by the
+  client within 24 hours.
+- Per-phase sign-off document: written client confirmation that the phase
+  output meets the brief before the next phase begins.
+
+**Sign-off protocol:**
+
+Sign-off is written and specific. "Looks good" in a chat channel is not
+sign-off. Sign-off documents the deliverable version, the date, and the
+client name. Signed-off phases are frozen; changes to a signed-off phase
+are change orders, not revisions.
+
+## Client Expectations Management
+
+Proactive communication is the primary expectation-management tool.
+Bad news delivered early is a problem to solve; bad news delivered late
+is a trust breach.
+
+**Communication discipline:**
+
+- Weekly status update regardless of whether the client has asked;
+  clients who must ask for status are clients who are beginning to worry.
+- Schedule or budget impact is communicated to the client before the
+  impact materializes, not after; retroactive disclosure of a miss is
+  a credibility event.
+- Never overpromise on scope, schedule, or quality to resolve a client
+  concern; an overpromise deferred is a miss compounded.
+- Verbal change requests from the client are acknowledged, documented,
+  and responded to with a written change-order assessment before any
+  production work on the change begins.
+
+**Written confirmation of verbal changes:**
+
+All scope, schedule, or deliverable changes discussed verbally are
+confirmed in writing within 24 hours of the conversation. The written
+confirmation includes: the change described in deliverable terms, the
+schedule impact, the budget impact, and a request for written client
+approval before work proceeds.
+
+## Post-Mortem Discipline
+
+Every project concludes with a structured post-mortem. Projects that
+are closed without a post-mortem forfeit the institutional learning
+that justifies the project's cost to the organization.
+
+**Post-mortem structure:**
+
+| Section | Content | Output |
+|---------|---------|--------|
+| What worked | Processes, decisions, or team configurations that produced better-than-expected outcomes | Retained practice entry for skills library |
+| What did not work | Processes, decisions, or gaps that produced rework, missed milestones, or client friction | Anti-pattern entry for pitfalls catalog |
+| Change for next | Specific, actionable changes to scope definition, brief authoring, vendor selection, scheduling, or delivery process | Process update or ADR amendment if structural |
+| Library entry | Post-mortem summary filed in the project archive | Mandatory; post-mortem not filed = post-mortem not done |
+
+**Post-mortem gate:**
+
+The project is not marked complete until the post-mortem library entry
+is filed. Post-mortem is never skipped on the grounds that the project
+went well; projects that went well contain the highest-value retained
+practices.
+
+## Anti-patterns
+
+| Anti-pattern | Consequence | Correct Approach |
+|--------------|-------------|-----------------|
+| Undefined deliverable scope at project start | Unlimited revision exposure; client and producer operate on different mental models of completion | Author and sign a four-component scope document before any other production activity |
+| No falsifiable KPI in the creative brief | Revision disputes are subjective; delivery is never demonstrably complete | Each brief must contain at least one numeric, time-bounded KPI tied to the problem statement |
+| Ad-hoc review scheduling | Review preparation is inadequate; feedback is incomplete; phases slip | Establish per-phase review checkpoints at project kickoff; no phase ends without a scheduled review |
+| Absorbing verbal scope changes into production | Budget and schedule overruns attributed to "client requests"; no audit trail for contractual disputes | All scope changes receive a written change-order assessment and written client approval before work begins |
+| Blind talent hire under deadline pressure | Quality miss or missed deadline; downstream phases cascade | Deadline pressure does not waive portfolio review and reference call requirements |
+| Hidden budget burn | Client discovers overrun at delivery; trust breach and potential contract dispute | Weekly burn-down report issued regardless of burn rate; overrun flags are proactive, not retrospective |
+| Missed review checkpoint | Phase output locked in wrong direction; rework cost exceeds the checkpoint time saved | No phase advances without written sign-off on the preceding phase; checkpoints are mandatory, not advisory |
+| No post-mortem | Institutional learning lost; same failure modes repeat across projects | Every project concludes with a post-mortem filed in the project archive before the project is marked complete |
+
+## Cross-References
+
+- `domains/project-management/skills/studio-operations` — operational
+  infrastructure for a running studio: capacity planning, toolchain
+  governance, and rate-card management
+- `domains/sales/skills/proposal-strategist` — commercial framing of
+  creative engagements: proposal structure, pricing strategy, and
+  closing mechanics
+- `domains/marketing-global/skills/content-creator` — content production
+  execution within a scoped creative brief; downstream of this skill in
+  the production chain
+
+## ADR Anchors
+
+- **ADR-058** — two-pass review gate: all scope documents, creative
+  briefs, talent-selection records, and post-mortem library entries
+  produced under this skill are subject to adversarial second-pass
+  review before being treated as final outputs.