Executive Narrative And Storyline

---
name: executive-narrative-and-storyline
description: "Turns a finished analysis into an executive-ready storyline using the Pyramid Principle: governing thought stated first, an SCQA opening, and MECE supporting arguments each traced down to specific evidence. Use when the analysis is done but still needs to become a narrative someone can act on, instead of a slide deck assembled section by section."
---

# Executive Narrative & Storyline

## Purpose

Turns analysis into a narrative and storyline that serves executive decision-making.

## Anchored in research

- McKinsey — storyline thinking
- Well-known design-/business-design-consultancy storytelling competency models
- Minto, Barbara (1996), *The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and
  Thinking* — the structural technique underlying McKinsey storyline
  thinking: state the answer first (the governing thought), support it with
  grouped, MECE arguments, and drive each argument down to its evidence. The
  SCQA opening (Situation–Complication–Question–Answer) frames why the
  audience should care before the answer lands.

## Method

1. **Start from the governing thought** — the single-sentence answer or
   recommendation the entire narrative has to support. If you can't state it
   in one sentence, the underlying analysis isn't finished yet.
2. **Open with SCQA**: Situation (the shared, uncontested starting point),
   Complication (what changed, or what's now at stake), Question (the
   question this naturally raises), Answer (the governing thought) — so the
   audience feels the need for the answer before they hear it.
3. **Group the supporting arguments into a MECE structure** beneath the
   governing thought — typically 3 to 5 arguments, each one a complete
   reason the governing thought is true, not a topic label.
4. **Order the arguments with one consistent logic** — deductively (premise
   → premise → conclusion) or inductively (grouped by shared reasoning, e.g.
   structural / financial / operational) — pick one and apply it throughout
   rather than mixing the two.
5. **Push every argument down to its evidence.** Each claim in the storyline
   should trace to a specific number, quote, or fact; anything that can't be
   traced gets marked `[assumption — verify]`.
6. **Build the storyline before the slides.** Write the narrative as a
   sequence of one-sentence headlines (a "flow"), and only then decide which
   headline needs which chart — a storyline that reads as a complete
   argument end-to-end without any slides is doing its job.

## What this skill does NOT do

- Doesn't make the final decision for you — it produces a structured draft to
  support a human decision.
- Doesn't confirm figures, market data, or competitor data from memory — it
  uses the inputs you provide, or marks an assumption clearly
  (`[assumption — verify]`).
- Doesn't do the visual design of the presentation materials — it structures
  the content and the narrative arc.

## Refinement notes

Areas to keep deepening with real practice:

- your own rules of thumb and heuristics for this technique
- concrete templates (into [`../../references/`](../../references/))
- reference cases / your own examples
- what this skill deliberately does *not* do (guardrails, common mistakes) —
  add to the list above

This is an internal working note, not a claim about the skill's current
usability. Track depth privately via the `maturity` field in
`skills_index.json` (see
[`../../../meta/maturity_levels.md`](../../../meta/maturity_levels.md)).
**Don't add new fields to the frontmatter** — `name` and `description` are
the only ones allowed (see
[`../../../meta/frontmatter_schema.md`](../../../meta/frontmatter_schema.md)).

## Continue from here

- Before this: [`../stakeholder-pressure-and-information-gap-mapping/SKILL.md`](../stakeholder-pressure-and-information-gap-mapping/SKILL.md)
  — maps the specific decision-maker's pressures and information gaps
  that should shape the SCQA's Complication and the governing thought's
  hook, before the storyline is drafted.
- After this, for register and clarity: [`../whiteboard-clarity-and-jargon-stripping/SKILL.md`](../whiteboard-clarity-and-jargon-stripping/SKILL.md)
  — a structurally sound storyline can still read as jargon-heavy; run
  this pass once the logic is right.
- Next in this pack: [`../benefits-realisation-tracking/SKILL.md`](../benefits-realisation-tracking/SKILL.md) — Tracks and reports on the realisation of promised benefits after implementation.
- More specialized applications for demo/visioning situations:
  [`../../../prototyping-and-demonstration/skills/opportunity-visioning-with-pr-faq/SKILL.md`](../../../prototyping-and-demonstration/skills/opportunity-visioning-with-pr-faq/SKILL.md)
  (putting the vision into words before prototyping) and
  [`../../../prototyping-and-demonstration/skills/demo-delivery-and-storytelling/SKILL.md`](../../../prototyping-and-demonstration/skills/demo-delivery-and-storytelling/SKILL.md)
  (the Great Demo! methodology for live demos).
- A ready-made skill chain for this situation: see [`../../../playbooks/`](../../../playbooks/)
- This pack's shared guardrails: [`../../CLAUDE.md`](../../CLAUDE.md)

## References

- [`../../references/`](../../references/) — the pack's shared background material
- [`../../CLAUDE.md`](../../CLAUDE.md) — the pack's shared guardrails