Board Meeting Protocol¶
Structured multi-agent deliberation that prevents groupthink, captures minority views, and produces clean, actionable decisions.
Keywords¶
board meeting, executive deliberation, strategic decision, C-suite, multi-agent, /cs:boardroom, founder review, decision extraction, independent perspectives
Invoke¶
/cs:boardroom [topic] — e.g. /cs:boardroom Should we expand to Spain in Q3?
The 6-Phase Protocol¶
PHASE 1: Context Gathering¶
- Load
~/.claude/company-context.md - Load Layer 2 approved decisions from
~/.claude/decisions/approved/(Layer 2 ONLY — never raw transcripts) - Reset session state — no bleed from previous conversations
- Present agenda + activated roles → wait for founder confirmation
Chief of Staff selects relevant roles based on topic (not all 14 every time): | Topic | Activate | |-------|----------| | Market expansion | CEO, CMO, CFO, CRO, COO | | Product direction | CEO, CPO, CTO, CMO | | Hiring/org | CEO, CHRO, CFO, COO (+ VPE for eng hiring) | | Pricing | CMO, CFO, CRO, CPO | | Technology | CTO, CPO, CFO, CISO | | Contracts / term sheets / legal exposure | GC, CEO, CFO | | Data strategy / training-data rights | CDO, CAIO, GC, CISO | | AI strategy / model selection / AI risk | CAIO, CTO, CDO, CFO | | Retention / churn / customer success | CCO, CRO, CPO | | Eng delivery / DORA / team structure | VPE, CTO, CHRO, CFO |
PHASE 2: Independent Contributions (ISOLATED)¶
No cross-pollination. Each agent runs before seeing others' outputs.
Order: Research (if needed) → CMO → CFO → CEO → CTO → COO → CHRO → CRO → CISO → CPO → GC → CDO → CAIO → CCO → VPE (activated roles only)
Reasoning techniques: CEO: Tree of Thought (3 futures) | CFO: Chain of Thought (show the math) | CMO: Recursion of Thought (draft→critique→refine) | CPO: First Principles | CRO: Chain of Thought (pipeline math) | COO: Step by Step (process map) | CTO: ReAct (research→analyze→act) | CISO: Risk-Based (P×I) | CHRO: Empathy + Data | GC: Risk-Based (clause exposure) | CDO: Decision-Driven (what decision does this data drive) | CAIO: Eval-Demanding (no eval, no ship) | CCO: Retention-Obsessed (GRR over NRR) | VPE: Throughput-First (cycle-time math)
Contribution format (max 5 key points, self-verified):
## [ROLE] — [DATE]
Key points (max 5):
• [Finding] — [VERIFIED/ASSUMED] — 🟢/🟡/🔴
• [Finding] — [VERIFIED/ASSUMED] — 🟢/🟡/🔴
Recommendation: [clear position]
Confidence: High / Medium / Low
Source: [where the data came from]
What would change my mind: [specific condition]
Each agent self-verifies before contributing: source attribution, assumption audit, confidence scoring. No untagged claims.
PHASE 3: Critic Analysis¶
Executive Mentor receives ALL Phase 2 outputs simultaneously. Role: adversarial reviewer, not synthesizer.
Checklist: - Where did agents agree too easily? (suspicious consensus = red flag) - What assumptions are shared but unvalidated? - Who is missing from the room? (customer voice? front-line ops?) - What risk has nobody mentioned? - Which agent operated outside their domain?
PHASE 4: Synthesis¶
Chief of Staff delivers using the Board Meeting Output format (defined in agent-protocol/SKILL.md):
- Decision Required (one sentence)
- Perspectives (one line per contributing role)
- Where They Agree / Where They Disagree
- Critic's View (the uncomfortable truth)
- Recommended Decision + Action Items (owners, deadlines)
- Your Call (options if founder disagrees)
PHASE 5: Human in the Loop ⏸️¶
Full stop. Wait for the founder.
Rules:
- User corrections OVERRIDE agent proposals. No pushback. No "but the CFO said..."
- 30-min inactivity → auto-close as "pending review"
- Reopen any time with /cs:boardroom resume
PHASE 6: Decision Extraction¶
After founder approval:
- Layer 1: Write full transcript → ~/.claude/decisions/raw/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md
- Layer 2: Write approved decision record → ~/.claude/decisions/approved/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md and append to the index ~/.claude/decisions/approved/decisions.md
- Mark rejected proposals [DO_NOT_RESURFACE]
- Confirm to founder with count of decisions logged, actions tracked, flags added
Memory Structure¶
Uses the canonical two-layer decision memory (see agent-protocol/SKILL.md → "Decision Memory (Canonical Layout)"):
~/.claude/decisions/
├── raw/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md # Layer 1 — full transcripts (never auto-loaded)
├── raw/archive/YYYY/ # Raw transcripts after 90 days
├── approved/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md # Layer 2 — founder-approved records (Phase 1 loads these)
└── approved/decisions.md # Layer 2 index — append-only
Future meetings load Layer 2 only. Never Layer 1. This prevents hallucinated consensus.
Migration: a legacy memory/board-meetings/ folder may exist from earlier versions; read it for history but write new transcripts and decisions to ~/.claude/decisions/.
Failure Mode Quick Reference¶
| Failure | Fix |
|---|---|
| Groupthink (all agree) | Re-run Phase 2 isolated; force "strongest argument against" |
| Analysis paralysis | Cap at 5 points; force recommendation even with Low confidence |
| Bikeshedding | Log as async action item; return to main agenda |
| Role bleed (CFO making product calls) | Critic flags; exclude from synthesis |
| Layer contamination | Phase 1 loads ~/.claude/decisions/approved/ only — hard rule |
References¶
templates/meeting-agenda.md— agenda formattemplates/meeting-minutes.md— final output formatreferences/meeting-facilitation.md— conflict handling, timing, failure modes