Proposal Brief — {Project Name}

Copy this file to your working folder as brief.md and fill it in before writing any YAML. If you cannot answer a section, you are not ready to draft. See references/narrative-planning.md for the full rationale.

1. Mode

One of: buyer | capabilities | casestudy

• buyer — named prospect, expected CTA (scoping session, kickoff)
• capabilities — reusable marketing asset, no prospect tied in
• casestudy — single engagement deep dive, proof-forward

Your mode: _____

2. Audience

Named reader or archetype: _____

What they already believe about this problem:

What they fear:

What would make them say yes (concrete outcome, not vibes):

3. Thesis

The one sentence this document argues:

Test: could a smart reader disagree with this sentence? If no, it is not a thesis — it is a pitch. Rewrite.

4. Three-Sentence Summary

If the deck collapsed to three sentences, what are they?

5. Signature Visual

The one diagram / framework / chart that anchors the thesis:

• Name: _____
• Source (existing asset, needs creation, or embedded from prior deck): _____
• Where in the deck does it appear: _____

6. Three Golden Proof Points

Specific numbers, exact phrases, named frameworks. Cut everything else.

7. Natural Cleavage

How many modules does the story want? Do not default to 4.

• Module count: _____
• Why this count (not 3, not 5): _____
• Module names:

  • ---

  • ---

  • ---

8. Narrative Sketch

One line per page. Titles should tell the story in sequence.

Page 1 — _____
Page 2 — _____
Page 3 — _____
Page 4 — _____
...

Apply the reverse-outline check: read the titles in sequence. Do they land the thesis?

9. Pacing Map

Next to each sketch line, annotate the layout (activities_deliverables, pillars, timeline, signature_image, quote, metric_dense, comparative, minicase_pair, section_divider). If 3+ adjacent pages share a pattern, fix the sketch here, before writing YAML.

10. Kill List

Pages you are not including even though they are tempting. Write them down. Subtraction is the discipline.

Approval

• Audience section complete
• Thesis is falsifiable, not a pitch
• Signature visual named and sourced
• Three golden proof points have specific numbers
• Page titles in the sketch tell the story standalone
• Layout pacing has no 3+ consecutive identical pattern
• Kill list written

Only when every checkbox is ticked should YAML drafting begin.