Independent advisor / fractional expert

Give recurring judgement over time

26 primitives in this stage — 23 skills · 3 agents. Concept-stage catalogue, kept vendor-agnostic.

Agent

Engagement-rhythm signal monitor

The third reschedule in a row wasn't a diary problem — it was a signal the format had stopped working.

Agent

Track the unfolding crisis and prompt next moves

The hardest thing in a crisis is knowing what to attend to next — everything feels urgent and most of it isn't.

Agent

Run the standing client-context scan

I found out about the regulatory change three weeks after it mattered. I can't be scanning feeds all day — it needs to scan for me.

Skill

Pre-session context-refresh brief

I hate walking into a call and realising mid-sentence I've forgotten where we left things.

Skill

Session agenda draft

We always ran out of time on the thing that mattered most — this fixes that before the call starts.

Skill

Surfacing-question prompt

The real issue is never what they lead with. I need the question that cracks it open.

Skill

On-the-fly reframe and recommendation

They'd described it as a resource problem for ten minutes — I needed the reframe fast, while they were still in the room.

Skill

Session summary and action-list note

If I don't write it up in the same sitting it evaporates, and so does the accountability.

Skill

Board-pack prep and intervention plan

Attending without a prep takes the seat but wastes the moment — I need to know my two moves before I walk in.

Skill

Cadence fit review

We'd kept the monthly cadence out of habit long after the need had changed — the relationship deserved better.

Skill

Annotate a client artefact with inline judgement

They needed more than typo fixes — they needed to know which argument the board would pick apart.

Skill

Stress-test the artefact's central argument

I read it and it felt tight — until I imagined the CFO's first question and it wasn't.

Skill

Draft a considered written reply

They don't need another nuanced 'it depends' — they need my actual view, with the reasoning they can use.

Skill

Frame the decision as options with a recommendation

They'd asked 'what should we do' — they needed the options laid out before they could hear the answer.

Skill

Rapid pre-call orientation brief

They texted 'can we talk in 10 mins' — I needed to be ready, not catching up live.

Skill

Rapid crisis orientation brief

In the first hour I had three people telling me three different things — I needed the actual picture, fast.

Skill

Draft a pre-read advisory note

I can't be there, but my thinking can — if it's written in a way they can actually use.

Skill

Separate the presenting question from the underlying issue

They thought they had a pricing problem. It took me two minutes to see it was a positioning problem — and the difference mattered completely.

Skill

Identify what is unknown before diagnosing

I nearly gave them an answer based on numbers that were six months old. I needed to know what I didn't know first.

Skill

Generate and weigh the plausible courses of action

The answer they expected wasn't wrong — it was just the only option they'd considered. I needed to show them what else was on the table.

Skill

Attack the candidate recommendation before committing

I was confident in the recommendation. That's exactly when I most need someone to argue the other side.

Skill

Translate the settled view into a client-ready brief

The view was right but I'd misjudged the order — I led with the implication before they trusted the reasoning.

Skill

Digest a batch of inbound client updates

Forty emails, a board pack, and a dashboard export — I needed to know what actually changed in ten minutes, not forty.

Skill

Assess whether a surfaced signal actually changes the picture

Not every headline is a signal. The judgement is knowing which one changes what I told them last week.

Skill

Run the pre-touchpoint reorientation pass

Three weeks had passed and I needed to rebuild the picture before the session, not during it.

Skill

Extract watch-worthy flags and threads

I'd noticed it three sessions running but never written it down. By the time it mattered I'd forgotten I'd seen it.