Daily Brief Generator

When to Use

• Starting a workday with scattered calendar items, tasks, inbox notes, or project updates.
• Preparing a manager, founder, chief of staff, or individual contributor for the day.
• Turning yesterday's unresolved items into today's operating priorities.
• Creating a daily plan without manually reading every thread first.

Procedure

Step 1 - Gather Inputs

Collect only the information needed for today's decisions:

• calendar events with time, title, attendees, and purpose if known
• tasks due today or overdue
• unread or flagged messages that require a response
• open decisions, blockers, or escalations
• personal constraints such as focus blocks, travel, or unavailable hours

Step 2 - Classify The Day

Group the day into:

• fixed commitments
• preparation required before meetings
• top three outcomes
• decisions needed from the user
• risks, blockers, or follow-ups

Step 3 - Prioritize

Rank priorities by urgency, consequence, and dependency impact. Do not rank low-value busywork above work that unlocks other people.

Step 4 - Produce The Brief

Write a scan-friendly brief with:

• schedule snapshot
• top priorities
• meeting preparation notes
• follow-up queue
• risk flags
• suggested focus block

Inputs

Input	Required	Format
Calendar items	Recommended	Time, title, attendees, purpose
Task list	Recommended	Task, owner, due date, status
Inbox or chat notes	Optional	Bullets, pasted messages, summaries
Project context	Optional	Milestones, blockers, open decisions
User constraints	Optional	Working hours, focus time, travel

Output

## Daily Brief - [Date]

### Schedule Snapshot
| Time | Event | Preparation Needed |
|------|-------|--------------------|

### Top 3 Priorities
1. [Priority] - [why it matters today]

### Follow-ups
| Item | Person | Suggested Message | Deadline |
|------|--------|-------------------|----------|

### Risks To Watch
- [Risk] - [mitigation]

### Suggested Focus Block
- [Time window] - [work to protect]

Quality Criteria

• The brief distinguishes fixed calendar commitments from flexible task work.
• The top three priorities are ranked by business impact, not just due date.
• Every follow-up includes a recipient and concrete next action.
• Sensitive or uncertain items are flagged for human review before sending.
• The output is short enough to read in under three minutes.

Verification (4C)

Check	Question
Correctness	Do all times, names, deadlines, and task states match the provided inputs?
Completeness	Are meetings, urgent tasks, blockers, and open decisions all represented?
Context-fit	Does the priority order match the user's role and real constraints for the day?
Consequence	What could go wrong if the user followed this brief without checking the source material?

Edge Cases

• No calendar input - Build the brief around tasks, deadlines, and open loops. State that schedule coverage is unknown.
• Too many urgent items - Group by consequence and identify the one decision or escalation that unlocks the most work.
• Conflicting meetings or deadlines - Flag the conflict and propose a decision, delegation, or reschedule option.
• Sensitive messages included - Summarize minimally and mark as "review before forwarding."

Examples

Prompt: "Build my daily brief from these calendar items, task list, and Slack notes. I have a board update at 3pm and two overdue vendor replies."

Good pattern: Start with schedule, then preparation needs, then top priorities, then follow-ups. Do not write a motivational plan or a long productivity essay.

Definition of Done

• The user can see what matters today within one screen.
• All high-consequence meetings have preparation notes.
• Follow-ups and risks are actionable.
• Uncertain assumptions are explicitly marked.

Changelog

• v1.0.0 - Initial release