one-to-one-prep git:20261104.4860813A

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---
name: one-to-one-prep
description: Prepares a brief for a one-to-one with a named person: their open items, what they raised recently, what you owe them, and what has gone unanswered between you. Use when the user asks to prepare for a 1:1, what to discuss with someone, what they owe a colleague, or says they have a one-to-one coming up.
---

# One-to-One Prep

Walks into the 1:1 knowing what you owe them, which is the half most prep skips.

## Inputs
- **Email**, **Meetings** and Teams traffic between the user and that person
- `references/config.md` for the window and what counts as a commitment
- The prior brief, if one exists, so items do not reappear as new

## Procedure
1. **Scope to the two people.** Threads where both are present. A group thread counts only if the
   person contributed to it.
2. **Build four lists, in this order:**
   - **What you owe them.** Commitments the user made, quoted and linked. **This section is
     first, deliberately.** Most 1:1 prep covers what the report owes the manager and the
     inversion is the useful part.
   - **What they owe you.** Same treatment.
   - **What they raised** that received no substantive reply.
   - **What changed** in their work since the last 1:1, from evidence, not inference.
3. **Carry forward** anything from the prior brief still unresolved, marked as carried, with the
   count of times it has carried. An item carried three times is the agenda.
4. **Stop there.** No suggested questions, no coaching prompts, no tone advice.

## Output
Four lists, every item quoted and linked, with carried items marked and counted.

## Definition of done
Both directions of commitment are covered, carried items show their count, and nothing is
inferred about the person.

**An empty brief is a good sign.** "Nothing outstanding in either direction since the last 1:1"
is a complete and useful answer.

## When there is no data
- No traffic in the window: say so with the date of the last exchange.
- No prior brief: say this is the first, so nothing carries.
- Group threads only: say the direct channel has been quiet, which is itself worth noticing.

## Boundaries
- 🔴 **Never assess, rate, or characterise the person.** No performance language, no sentiment
  read, no "seems disengaged". This skill reports commitments and questions, and nothing about
  how someone is doing. That line is absolute: a drafting tool that editorialises about a
  colleague is a liability to the user who runs it.
- Never read 1:1 notes about this person written by someone else.
- Never draft feedback, and never prepare anything for a performance process.
- **Draft only**, and the brief is for the user alone.

## Self-check
- Is "what you owe them" first?
- Is every item quoted with a link rather than summarised?
- Did I avoid every characterisation of the person?