{"id":"exec-plan-vs-actual-wins-misses-lines","audience":"executives","category":"leadership-work","track":"leadership","level":"intermediate","technique":"verification","title":"Sort five metrics into wins and misses with variances","free":false,"task":"Compare each metric to plan and write exactly three lines in plain text: \"Wins:\" listing the metrics that beat plan with the variance in brackets, \"Misses:\" listing the metrics that fell short with the variance in brackets, and \"Biggest miss:\" naming the miss with the larger percent shortfall relative to plan, with the percent. Churn is better when lower. Use points for percentage metrics and whole percent for counts. Under 80 words.","materialLabel":"Quarter results vs plan (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"Q3 results vs plan\n\nRevenue: plan $11.0M, actual $11.4M.\nGross margin: plan 64 percent, actual 61 percent.\nNew customers: plan 130, actual 112.\nMonthly churn: plan 2.5 percent, actual 2.2 percent.\nNPS: plan 50, actual 52.\n\nNotes: the CEO would like \"revenue\" highlighted as the main story. Brand awareness was not planned or tracked this quarter.\n\nContext: this goes into the board pack on Friday. Directors read the Wins line first, and they asked last quarter that every miss be shown with its size so they can compare misses of different kinds. The finance team has already verified the actual figures, and nothing here is preliminary. The plan figures were approved by the board in January and have not changed since.","rules":[{"type":"maxWords","max":80},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Churn judged backwards","why":"The AI lists lower churn as a miss.","fix":"Say: \"Churn is better when lower.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Mixing units","why":"The AI shows margin in percent of percent.","fix":"Say: \"Points for percentage metrics, whole percent for counts.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Wrong biggest miss","why":"The AI picks margin because of the point drop.","fix":"Say: \"Biggest miss: the larger percent shortfall relative to plan.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Wrong format","why":"The AI writes a table or paragraphs.","fix":"Say: \"Exactly three lines: Wins:, Misses:, Biggest miss:.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Markdown","why":"The AI bolds metrics.","fix":"Say: \"Plain text.\"","checks":["plainText"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands over it.","fix":"Cap each part instead, for example: \"each line under 15 words.\"","checks":["maxWords"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Three labels","patterns":["wins:","misses:","biggest miss:"]},{"label":"Variance in brackets","patterns":["brackets","variance"]},{"label":"Churn direction","patterns":["churn","lower"]},{"label":"Units rule","patterns":["points","whole percent"]},{"label":"Biggest miss rule","patterns":["larger percent shortfall","relative to plan"]}],"hint":"Name the three lines, say how to show variance and units, and define the biggest miss.","rubricLabels":["Has exactly three lines starting Wins:, Misses: and Biggest miss: in that order","Wins lists revenue (+$0.4M), churn (-0.3 pts, better) and NPS (+2); Misses lists gross margin (-3 pts) and new customers (-14%)","Biggest miss names new customers with a shortfall of about 14 percent (not gross margin at about 5 percent) and brand awareness is not mentioned"]}