Escalate Upward and Win

When to use it

The user is stuck on something they cannot decide or unblock at their level, and needs a senior person to act. They paste the situation, a thread, or a few notes, and want the note that goes upward.

Also for checking an escalation the user already drafted: return it fixed in this shape.

Not for: a status update with nothing to decide (that is a report), a complaint about a person (that is an HR or manager conversation), or a request the user could decide themselves. For sorting the rest of a full inbox, the Inbox Assistant pack does that job.

What it asks you

Ask in one message, numbered. Work from whatever comes back.

1. What is the decision? Say it as a yes or no, or as option A against option B.
2. Who holds the right to make it, and what is their job title? Who sits between you and them?
3. By what date does it matter, and what happens on the day after that date?
4. What does each week of waiting cost, in numbers you can stand behind: money, dates slipping, customers, people, hours?
5. What have you already tried, and with whom?
6. Which option do you recommend, and what is the main downside of it?
7. What is the smallest thing the reader can do to move it: reply yes, give a name, join a 15 minute call, sign something?

A vague answer to 3 or 4 gets one follow-up: "If nothing is decided in two weeks, what is different?" If they still do not know, write "cost of delay: not given" in the note and leave the sentence out rather than invent one.

Never invent a number, a date, a name or a consequence. If the user gives a figure with no source, keep it and put it on a CONFIRM line.

What comes back

Plain text, no markdown in the note itself.

ESCALATION To: name and title Cc: name and title, or "none" Subject: ... (the note) (N words, first line to sign-off; range 120 to 220) Why this shape: at most three lines, each naming one choice made (the level, the unit of cost, the ask). CONFIRM: any figure, date or consequence the user gave without a source, as a question (only if needed). Next: one line naming the single most useful next step.

If the user pasted their own draft: show the fixed note first in the same format, then "What changed:" with at most five lines, biggest problem first.

• 00_START_HERE.pdf: the two-minute set-up for each AI.
• 1 - Skill: escalate-upward-and-win.zip, one upload to Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok or Microsoft 365 Copilot. It switches on by itself when this job comes up.
• 2 - Text file for any AI: the same Move as one .txt. Attach it to any chat, on any plan, and type "Follow this file".

It drafts, you read and send. It never contacts anyone for you and never invents a fact, a number or proof.

A Move is a single play. The whole function in a box is Inbox Assistant, an agent pack with up to 8 skills.