/ceos-clarity

name: ceos-clarity
description: Use when taking a Clarity Break — stepping back from day-to-day work for strategic thinking time
file-access: [data/clarity/, templates/clarity-break.md, data/vision.md, data/rocks/, data/scorecard/, data/issues/open/, data/accountability.md]
tools-used: [Read, Write, Glob]

ceos-clarity

Facilitate the Clarity Break — one of the Five Leadership Abilities in EOS and a core Traction tool. A Clarity Break is scheduled time to step away from day-to-day work and think strategically: "work ON the business, not IN it." Unlike structured EOS tools, the Clarity Break is intentionally unstructured — this skill provides just enough framework to make it habitual without over-formalizing it.

When to Use

• "Clarity break" or "take a clarity break"
• "Step back and think about the business"
• "Strategic thinking time" or "work on the business"
• "I need to reflect on the business"
• "Review how things are going" (in a reflective, non-meeting context)
• "Log a clarity break" or "record my reflections"
• "Show clarity break history" or "what themes keep coming up?"

Context

Finding the CEOS Repository

Search upward from the current directory for the `.ceos` marker file. This file marks the root of the CEOS repository.

If `.ceos` is not found, stop and tell the user: "Not in a CEOS repository. Clone your CEOS repo and run setup.sh first."

**Sync before use:** Once you find the CEOS root, run `git -C <ceos_root> pull --ff-only --quiet 2>/dev/null` to get the latest data from teammates. If it fails (conflict or offline), continue silently with local data.

Key Files

| File | Purpose | |------|---------| | `data/clarity/YYYY-MM-DD.md` | Clarity Break notes (one per session) | | `data/vision.md` | V/TO for strategic context | | `data/rocks/[quarter]/` | Current Rocks for progress context | | `data/scorecard/weeks/` | Recent scorecard data for trend context | | `data/issues/open/` | Open issues for awareness context | | `templates/clarity-break.md` | Template for new Clarity Break files | | `data/accountability.md` | Accountability Chart (org structure for strategic context) |

File Naming

Clarity Break files use date-based naming: `YYYY-MM-DD.md`

If a file already exists for today's date (e.g., a second Clarity Break in the same day), append a numeric suffix: `YYYY-MM-DD-2.md`, `YYYY-MM-DD-3.md`, etc.

YAML Frontmatter Schema

date: "2026-02-14"
person: "brad"
duration: "45 min"       # How long the Clarity Break lasted (filled at end)
themes:                  # Key themes identified during reflection
  - hiring
  - product-market-fit
issues_identified:       # Issues to bring to the next L10
  - "Sales pipeline is too dependent on one channel"

Process

Mode: Start

Guide a live Clarity Break session — gathering business context, prompting reflection, and capturing insights.

Step 1: Setup

1. **Person**: Ask who is taking the Clarity Break. Default to the user if a solo session. 2. **Date**: Use today's date. 3. **Collision check**: If `data/clarity/YYYY-MM-DD.md` already exists, check for the next available suffix. 4. Create the file path but don't write yet — the file is written at the end.

Step 2: Gather Context (State of the Business)

Read current data to provide a strategic snapshot. Keep each section to 2-3 lines — this is context, not a report.

1. **V/TO check**: Read `data/vision.md`. Summarize the 1-Year Plan and current progress. 2. **Rock status**: Read `data/rocks/[current-quarter]/`. Count on_track vs off_track. List any off-track Rocks. 3. **Scorecard trends**: Read the 2-3 most recent files in `data/scorecard/weeks/`. Note any metrics consistently off-track. 4. **Open issues**: Read `data/issues/open/`. Count total open issues. List the 3-5 highest priority ones. 5. **Org structure**: Read `data/accountability.md`. Note any unfilled seats or gaps relevant to the reflection topics.

Present the summary:

State of the Business
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1-Year Plan: [brief summary from V/TO]
Rocks: 4/6 on track (Q1 2026)
  Off track: Hire VP Sales, Partner Program
Scorecard: Revenue on track, NPS off track 3 weeks running
Open Issues: 8 total — top 3: [issue titles]

If any data source is missing (no vision.md, no rocks, etc.), note it gracefully: "No [data type] on file yet." and continue.

Ask: "Want to review any of this in detail before we start reflecting, or shall we dive in?"

Step 3: Reflection

Present the four Clarity Break questions, one at a time. Give the user space to think — don't rush through them.

1. **"What's working well?"** — Celebrate wins. What should we keep doing or do more of? 2. **"What's not working?"** — Be honest. What's broken, frustrating, or draining energy? 3. **"What's missing?"** — What are we not doing that we should be? Gaps in people, process, or strategy? 4. **"What needs to change?"** — If you could change one thing about the business right now, what would it be?

Record the user's responses under each question. Don't analyze or problem-solve during the reflection — the goal is to surface thoughts, not fix things yet.

Step 4: Issues and Actions

After the four reflection questions:

1. Ask: "Did any new issues surface that should go on the Issues list for the next L10?" 2. If yes, capture them in the `issues_identified` frontmatter list. 3. Mention: "You can create formal issue files for these using `ceos-ids` when you're ready."

Step 5: Themes

Review the notes and suggest 2-4 themes — recurring topics or categories that emerged during the reflection. Ask the user to confirm or adjust. Record in the `themes` frontmatter list.

Step 6: Wrap Up and Save

1. Ask how long the Clarity Break took (for `duration` frontmatter). 2. Show the complete file before writing. 3. Ask for any final edits. 4. Write to `data/clarity/YYYY-MM-DD.md`. 5. Remind: "Run `git commit` to save your Clarity Break notes."

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Mode: Log

Record a C