# Consulting Brief

A maturity assessment report for management audiences. It forms a clear
management judgment: where we are, what matters, what to prioritize, and who
needs to decide.

## Reference Mood

McKinsey / BCG / Bain / Deloitte-style management consulting briefs. Use
answer-first communication: titles carry the point, evidence supports the
judgment, and the ending lands on trade-offs and decision asks.

Use the information structure as inspiration, not the brand look. Do not copy any consulting firm's logo, color system, page template, or trademarked layout.

## When To Use

- Executive briefings, Steering Committee meetings, and customer maturity diagnostics.
- DevOps maturity, Platform Engineering, architecture governance, and engineering capability maturity assessments.
- Turning assessment results into management trade-offs, resource decisions, or delivery paths.
- Situations where the key conclusions already exist and need to become decision-ready material.

## Information Architecture

- Start with the conclusion, then evidence, then impact, then action.
- Answer "what this means" before explaining "why we believe it."
- Each section should carry one main point; do not crowd several issues onto the same screen.
- Emphasize the management meaning behind the gaps instead of listing every finding.

## Structure Pattern

1. Executive verdict: give the overall judgment in one sentence.
2. Current vs target: show the current level, target level, and critical gaps.
3. Capability breakdown: break down capability dimensions, evidence, weaknesses, and impact.
4. Key gaps: extract the 3-5 gaps that determine the maturity leap.
5. Strategic priorities: rank by impact, urgency, and feasibility.
6. Roadmap: present a 30/60/90-day or phased delivery path.
7. Decision ask: list the resources, mechanisms, owners, or pilot scope that require approval.

## Visual Language

- One main conclusion per screen; it should feel like a deck, not a long-form report.
- White background, dark headlines, restrained accent colors, and grid-based layout.
- Works well with a maturity ladder, capability heatmap, gap matrix, priority matrix, and roadmap.
- Use judgment or action titles; avoid weak headings such as "Current State Analysis" or "Data Display."
- Key numbers can be enlarged, but the page should not become a dashboard.

## Visualization Style

- Primary visualization family: current-vs-target capability profile; use a
  radar/spider profile, gap matrix, or paired bars only when the dimensions
  share a clear scale.
- The second report section should use a gap matrix or capability profile that
  shows which issues block the management decision.
- Supporting visualization blocks: capability table, roadmap or decision table,
  and one or two decisive gap cards.
- Keep management-facing decision logic ahead of internal metadata. Do not let
  report-style filenames, score-model mechanics, or repeated dense tables become
  the primary reader experience.
- Internal evidence scales such as `F0-F4` belong in legends, caveats, or
  appendices. Use first-screen band labels with reader-facing maturity
  language: current state, target state, critical gap, or level movement.
- Include a visible answer-first recommendation or decision frame before dense
  scorecards. The consulting visual companion should make the "so what / now
  what" clear without relying on the `Report style` label.
- If the visual companion shows numeric radar values, include a short score and
  target legend that explains the source values, target basis, and static-only
  caveat.
- Prefer one decision/action table that includes trigger, next action, pass
  check, owner, timing, evidence artifact, and impact over duplicated
  summary/detail tables. If a wide table is still needed, add a compact mobile
  summary that repeats all seven action-critical fields.

## Content Granularity

- The overall verdict should be short enough to read on the first screen.
- Each gap should include evidence, impact, and action.
- The roadmap should contain key milestones only, not a full project plan.
- Decision asks must be explicit; avoid vague phrasing such as "continue to improve" or "strengthen the capability."

## Boundaries

- Do not build a continuous monitoring dashboard.
- Do not build an item-by-item audit scorecard.
- Do not write an industry opinion piece.
- Do not treat every issue as equally important.
- Do not copy any consulting firm's brand visuals, logo, or trademarked layout.