ceo-council

CEO Council — Independent Strategic Analysis

Launch parallel sub-agents as isolated C-level experts. Each analyzes the same project data from their perspective. No coordination between experts — isolation produces genuine diversity of opinion. Then synthesize consensus and disagreements.

Critical: How to Launch Experts

MUST use the Task tool with subagent_type: "general-purpose" and model: "opus".

Task(
  subagent_type: "general-purpose",
  model: "opus",
  prompt: "<expert prompt with data>",
  description: "CFO analysis"
)

DO NOT use bash, shell scripts, or background commands to launch experts. They will fail.

Launch all experts in a single message with multiple Task tool calls for true parallelism.

Step 1: Scan Project Context

Before suggesting experts, understand the project:

1. Read CLAUDE.md (or README.md if absent)
2. Scan .claude/rules/ for domain context
3. Glance at top-level file structure

Based on findings, generate 4-6 expert roles tailored to THIS project. Roles must reflect the project's actual domain, challenges, and stage.

Step 2: Assemble the Council

MANDATORY: Ask the user before proceeding. Do not pick roles yourself.

Use AskUserQuestion with multiSelect: true:

• Show 4-6 role options with short descriptions of their focus
• User can always pick "Other" to define custom roles
• Minimum 2 experts. If user picks 1, suggest adding one more for productive disagreement

Role Examples by Project Type

Don't copy these — generate fresh roles based on actual project context:

Project Type	Typical Roles
SaaS	Head of Engineering, Head of Product, Head of Growth, CFO, UX Researcher
Open Source	Community Manager, Technical Architect, DevRel, Security Advisor
Content / Media	Content Strategist, Audience Analyst, Monetization Expert, Distribution Expert
EdTech	CMO, CFO, CPO, COO, Growth Advisor
E-commerce	Head of Supply Chain, Marketing Director, CTO, Customer Experience Lead
Agency / Consulting	Sales Director, Delivery Lead, Talent Manager, CFO

Step 3: Gather Current Data

Collect project state to feed all experts. Stay focused on what's relevant:

Read:

• Key metrics/data files identified during context scan
• Strategy and planning documents
• Recent decisions or changes (git log --oneline -10)
• Previous council analyses (if any)

Skip: GitHub traffic stats, stargazer counts, clone data, contributor lists — these are vanity metrics, not strategic data.

All experts must receive identical data context. Prepare the data block ONCE, then paste it into each expert prompt.

Step 4: Generate Expert Prompts

For each selected expert, create a prompt with the SAME data block:

You are the [ROLE] for [PROJECT NAME]. Analyze the data below from a [DOMAIN] perspective.

Focus on:
- [3-6 specific focus areas relevant to role and project]

Data:
[CURRENT PROJECT DATA — identical for all experts]

[Role-specific instruction: "show the math", "be the contrarian", "prioritize by effort/impact", etc.]

Respond in the same language as the data provided.

Rules:

• Each expert gets the SAME data block — prepare it once, reuse
• Focus areas must be specific to the project, not generic
• Include a personality instruction (contrarian, pragmatic, data-driven)
• Mention project constraints the expert should know

Step 5: Execute

Launch ALL selected experts in one message using multiple Task tool calls:

# In a single response, call Task for each expert:
Task(subagent_type: "general-purpose", model: "opus", prompt: "<CFO prompt>", description: "CFO analysis")
Task(subagent_type: "general-purpose", model: "opus", prompt: "<CPO prompt>", description: "CPO analysis")
Task(subagent_type: "general-purpose", model: "opus", prompt: "<CTO prompt>", description: "CTO analysis")

Wait for all experts to return results before proceeding to synthesis.

Step 6: Synthesize

Do not skip this step. The synthesis is the entire value of the council.

After all experts report, create a synthesis document:

# Council Session: [DATE]

## Council Members
[List of selected experts and their focus]

## Context
[Current metrics/state snapshot — brief]

## [Expert 1 Name]
[Key findings and recommendations]

## [Expert 2 Name]
[Key findings and recommendations]

## Consensus (all agree)
1. ...
2. ...

## Disagreements
| Expert | Position | Argument |
|--------|----------|----------|
| ... | ... | ... |

## Decisions
_To be filled after discussion._

Save Results

Save to a logical location:

• docs/council-[DATE].md — default
• Or project-specific path if context suggests one

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Picking roles without asking user	ALWAYS use AskUserQuestion first
Using bash to launch experts	ONLY use Task tool with subagent_type: "general-purpose"
Giving experts different data	Prepare ONE data block, paste into all prompts
Gathering vanity metrics	Focus on project docs, strategy, actual metrics
Too many experts (6+)	3-4 is optimal for signal-to-noise
Skipping synthesis	The synthesis IS the value — never skip