Foundation Meeting Synthesize

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Meeting Synthesize

Meeting synthesis is the archaeology skill for multi-meeting initiatives. It consumes a set of meeting recaps (and optionally raw notes) over a period, and surfaces patterns that no single meeting reveals: how decisions evolved, how stakeholder positions shifted, where threads are stalling, where contradictions have emerged.

Distinct from /discover-interview-synthesis: that skill works on user-research conversations with research-specific frameworks (jobs-to-be-done, buying insights). This skill works on internal org meetings with org-specific patterns (stakeholder alignment, decision evolution, project history).

This skill belongs to the Meeting Skills Family. It conforms to the Meeting Skills Family Contract.

When to Use

• Board prep or exec-brief preparation across a meeting sequence
• Onboarding a new team member into the history of an initiative
• Project retrospective input (the story of how we got here)
• Investigating why a multi-meeting initiative has stalled
• Quarterly review of a topic that has crossed many meetings
• Surfacing contradictions that no single-meeting reviewer caught

When NOT to Use

• Single-meeting summary. Use foundation-meeting-recap instead.
• Communicating outcomes outward. Use foundation-stakeholder-update.
• User research conversation synthesis. Use discover-interview-synthesis.

Zero-friction execution

Per the family contract, this skill never blocks on interrogation. Default flow:

• Load all provided source files (recaps preferred, raw notes accepted with lower input-quality flag)
• Apply any filters (time range, topic, stakeholder)
• Run inference on themes, stakeholder evolution, contradictions
• Present a brief inference summary (meeting count after filter, time range detected, per-source input quality, scope filter applied)
• Accept go or corrections
• Produce the synthesis

If invoked with --go, skip the inference summary. Format hints (board-prep, onboarding, retro-input, exec-brief) control output presentation without changing the underlying process.

Instructions

When asked to create a meeting synthesis, follow these steps:

• Load sources

Read all provided recap filenames or note files. Parse frontmatter to extract meeting metadata. Note per-source input quality (recap frontmatter's input_quality if available; otherwise assess from content).

Metadata source tracking (v1.1.0): for each recap, also note the meeting_type_source field (explicit | inferred | null). When synthesizing across mixed sources, the synthesis must document the mix explicitly in the Scope section: "meeting_type values: N explicit, M inferred, K null." This prevents non-reproducible results when filtering by meeting_type across a mix of confidence levels. If filtering by meeting_type, state whether the filter includes inferred values and how null values are handled.

• Apply filters

If time range, topic, or stakeholder filter provided, narrow the source set before proceeding. Record the filter applied in frontmatter scope_filter.

• Present go-mode inference summary

Meeting count after filter, time range detected from source metadata, per-source input quality levels, scope filter description.

• Build the plain-text timeline

Chronological order by meeting_date. Each entry shows date, meeting name, key decision or shift, and confidence or contradiction flag if applicable. Render as markdown (no binary images. must render everywhere).

• Extract themes

Cluster recurring topics across sources. For each theme, record description, sources where it appeared, and confidence marker tied to frequency ("appears in 5/5 meetings" → high; "appears in 2/5 meetings" → medium; "mentioned in 1 meeting" → low).

• Track stakeholder positions

For each named stakeholder across sources, record initial position → current position, alignment state (aligned / divergent / shifting), and key statements with dates. Flag confidence on each position based on whether it was direct-quoted or paraphrased.

• Consolidate decisions

Cross-meeting, sorted chronologically. Table format: Date | Decision | Context | Meeting | Confidence.

• Separate decision evolution from unresolved contradictions (v1.1.0)

Two distinct outputs, not one combined "contradictions" section:

• Decision evolution (resolved): earlier decision → later decision on the same topic, where the later one supersedes. This is historical context, not a red flag. No ⚠ emphasis.
• Unresolved contradictions: decisions or positions currently in conflict that need reconciliation. Use ⚠ visual emphasis. For each:
• Earlier reference (meeting + date + decision)
• Later reference (meeting + date + decision that conflicts)
• Status: unresolved / needs reconciliation

The distinction matters because v1.0.0 conflated them, creating false-positive "contradictions" in exec contexts where the "contradiction" was actually intentional scope evolution.

• Identify open items and stalled threads

Topics surfacing 2+ times without resolution. When they last appeared.

10. Draft narrative summary

2-3 paragraphs: what happened, what changed, where we are, what is at stake. The "story" of the meeting set.

11. Prioritize follow-up suggestions

• High: unblocking now; suggested owner or forum
• Medium: important but not blocking
• Low: monitor

Each with rationale.

12. Apply format hint (if provided)

One process generates the full synthesis data. The hint controls section ordering and truncation for the specific use case:

• board-prep: lead with narrative + contradictions + prioritized follow-ups; shorter timeline
• onboarding: lead with narrative + stakeholder tracking; full timeline
• retro-input: lead with themes + stalled threads + meeting-quality aggregate
• exec-brief: TL;DR + top 3 items only

13. Render TEMPLATE.md and validate

• source_meetings list is non-empty
• time_range.start ≤ time_range.end
• Every theme has a confidence marker
• Every contradiction has before/after source citations
• At least 1 prioritized follow-up

Quality Checklist

• [ ] Source meetings listed with filename + date + per-source input quality
• [ ] Time range populated and sensible
• [ ] Scope filter described (or "none applied")
• [ ] Timeline is plain-text markdown (no binary images)
• [ ] Themes include confidence markers tied to frequency
• [ ] Stakeholder position tracking shows evolution (initial → current), not just snapshot
• [ ] Consolidated decision list is chronological with source citations
• [ ] Contradictions are flagged in their own first-class section (not buried)
• [ ] Narrative summary is 2-3 paragraphs, not bullets
• [ ] Follow-ups are prioritized (High / Medium / Low) with rationale
• [ ] Frontmatter omits single-meeting fields (meeting_title, meeting_date, etc.)
• [ ] Sources and References weights input quality across sources

See also

• Meeting Skills Family Contract
• foundation-meeting-recap. upstream: primary input source
• /discover-interview-synthesis. sibling pattern for user-research conversations (different domain)