---
name: monthly-alignment
description: "Run the Monthly Alignment (60 min, up to ~2 hrs) — a deeper-than-weekly cadence that closes out the month with a full numbers review, wins/losses audit, quarter-to-date tracking, and a systems check. Runs on the last/first day of the month, OUTSIDE the weekly alignment. Sits between Weekly Alignment (tactical) and Quarterly Alignment (strategic). Use when the user says 'monthly alignment', 'monthly review', 'run my monthly', 'end of month review', 'EOM review', 'close out the month', 'month-end review', 'monthly meeting', 'monthly check-in', 'review my month', 'how did the month go', 'monthly scorecard', 'monthly OS meeting', 'monthly retrospective', 'quarter-to-date', 'QTD check', 'are my systems working', or any request to run a structured month-end review. Also trigger when the user mentions closing out the month, auditing how the month went, checking progress against quarterly goals, or deciding if systems need changing before next month. Should NOT trigger for weekly meetings — that's weekly-alignment."
---

# Monthly Alignment Skill

## Overview
You are running the Monthly Alignment (60 min, up to ~2 hrs) — the deeper-cadence operating meeting that closes out the month and sets up the next one. This is structured to run on the last day of the month or the first day of the new month, separate from the weekly alignment.

**Where it sits in the OS hierarchy:**
- **Weekly Alignment** = tactical, every week, 30–60 min — fixes problems, ships actions
- **Monthly Alignment** = systems-level, once a month, 60 min–2 hrs — audits patterns, tracks quarter, decides if systems need adjusting *(this skill)*
- **Quarterly Review** = strategic, every 13 weeks, 4+ hrs — resets vision, picks new projects

The Monthly Alignment is the layer that catches what the weekly misses: trends, recurring problems, system fatigue, and quarter drift.

## Component skills — what this meeting runs
The monthly is the orchestrator at the **systems** level. It runs the same V2 skills as the weekly, but reads them over the whole month and the quarter-to-date, not the week. Each board autosaves and carries across sessions, so the monthly reads accumulated history rather than starting fresh.

| Section | Skill | Monthly lens |
|---|---|---|
| Open | `seed-of-life` | the month's SOL **trend** — what's been red all month, not just one bad week |
| 2. Numbers | `scoreboard` | the **monthly Total** column + month-over-month; the 26 Keys depth |
| 3. Quarter-to-Date | `vision` | update the 12-month goals with this month's actuals; read pace |
| 4. Systems Audit | `golden-section` | re-audit where the founder's hours go — what to systemise / delegate / cut next month |
| throughout | `problems-list` | resolve what's fixed; surface anything **red 2+ months** (systemic, not noise) |

## The 6 Sections

```
1. Wins & Losses Review        → 10 min
2. Monthly Numbers Deep Dive   → 15 min
3. Quarter-to-Date Tracking    → 10 min
4. Systems Audit               → 15 min
5. Adjustments for Next Month  →  7 min
6. Conclude                    →  3 min
                              ──────
                        Total: 60 min (up to ~2 hrs deep)
```

## How to Run the Meeting

### Before Starting

Pull data automatically:
1. **Stripe**: Pull this calendar month's revenue, new customers, MRR change, refunds, failed payments. Compare to last month and to the same month last year if available.
2. **Calendar**: Review the past month's meetings — calls booked, calls completed, calls cancelled, no-shows.
3. **Past conversations**: Search for the last 4 weekly alignments to extract recurring problems, completed actions, and outstanding items. Search query: "weekly alignment" filtered to the last ~30 days.
4. **Previous monthly snapshots**: Search for "monthly alignment snapshot" (and legacy "monthly review snapshot" — earlier files used that name) to pull prior months for comparison.

Then begin. Don't skip sections — the structure IS the system.

---

### Section 1: Wins & Losses Review (10 min)

This is the reflection layer. The weekly does wins-only by design (momentum). The monthly looks at both — what worked AND what didn't — to find patterns.

Ask:

> "Let's review the month. What were the big wins — business and personal? And what were the losses or things that didn't work?"

Capture in two columns:

```
WINS — [Month Year]               LOSSES — [Month Year]
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
BUSINESS                           BUSINESS
  ✓ [Win]                            ✗ [Loss / what didn't work]
  ✓ [Win]                            ✗ [Loss]
  ✓ [Win]                            ✗ [Loss]
  
PERSONAL                           PERSONAL
  ✓ [Win]                            ✗ [Loss]
  ✓ [Win]                            ✗ [Loss]
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
```

Pre-populate from weekly alignments where you can — pull wins lists from the last 4 weeks of conversations.

After capturing, ask the pattern questions:

1. **What worked best?** Of all the wins, which one had the biggest impact? Why did it work?
2. **What's the recurring loss?** Is there a loss that has shown up 2+ months in a row? That's a system problem, not a one-off.
3. **What surprised you?** Wins or losses you didn't expect. These are signals.

---

### Section 2: Monthly Numbers Deep Dive (15 min)

This is deeper than the weekly scoreboard. **Run the `scoreboard` skill** at the monthly level — its per-month **Total** column gives you the month's numbers with ratios recomputed from monthly totals (not averaged), graded against the monthly target. Then pull the full monthly 26 Keys with month-over-month comparison.

```
MONTHLY SCORECARD — [Month Year]
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
PILLAR / KPI              THIS MONTH    LAST MONTH    vs LAST    GRADE
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
FINANCE
  Total Revenue            $[X]          $[X]          [↑↓→ %]    [🟢🟠🔴]
  New Revenue              $[X]          $[X]          [↑↓→ %]    [🟢🟠🔴]
  Trailing Revenue         $[X]          $[X]          [↑↓→ %]    [🟢🟠🔴]
  Profit                   $[X]          $[X]          [↑↓→ %]    [🟢🟠🔴]
  Profit Margin            [X]%          [X]%          [↑↓→]      [🟢🟠🔴]
  MRR                      $[X]          $[X]          [↑↓→ %]    [🟢🟠🔴]
  Cash in Bank             $[X]          $[X]          [↑↓→ %]    [🟢🟠🔴]
  Ad Spend                 $[X]          $[X]          [↑↓→ %]    [🟢🟠🔴]
  New Revenue MER          [X]x          [X]x          [↑↓→]      [🟢🟠🔴]
  CAC Payback              [X] mo        [X] mo        [↑↓→]      [🟢🟠🔴]

MARKETING
  Leads (total)            [X]           [X]           [↑↓→ %]    [🟢🟠🔴]
  Lead Quality             [%]           [%]           [↑↓→]      [🟢🟠🔴]
  Cost per Lead            $[X]          $[X]          [↑↓→]      [🟢🟠🔴]
  Front-End AOV            $[X]          $[X]          [↑↓→]      [🟢🟠🔴]
  Front-End ROAS           [X]%          [X]%          [↑↓→]      [🟢🟠🔴]

SALES
  Calls Booked             [X]           [X]           [↑↓→ %]    [🟢🟠🔴]
  Calls Completed          [X]           [X]           [↑↓→ %]    [🟢🟠🔴]
  Show Rate                [X]%          [X]%          [↑↓→]      [🟢🟠🔴]
  Close Rate               [X]%          [X]%          [↑↓→]      [🟢🟠🔴]
  New Clients              [X]           [X]           [↑↓→]      [🟢🟠🔴]
  Avg Deal Size            $[X]          $[X]          [↑↓→]      [🟢🟠🔴]

OPERATIONS
  Churn Rate               [X]%          [X]%          [↑↓→]      [🟢🟠🔴]
  Refund Rate              [X]%          [X]%          [↑↓→]      [🟢🟠🔴]
  Active Clients           [X]           [X]           [↑↓→]      [🟢🟠🔴]
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
```

For each section, surface:
- **The biggest mover** (positive or negative)
- **Anything that flipped colour** (was green, now red, or vice versa)
- **Anything that has been red for 2+ months** — this is a systemic issue

Ask after each pillar:

> "What's the story behind this?"

Numbers are the start, not the end. The story is the diagnosis.

**For recurring-revenue businesses (subscriptions, payment plans):** Always show New Revenue MER and Trailing Revenue separately. Blended MER hides the truth.

---

### Section 3: Quarter-to-Date Tracking (10 min)

Open the **`vision` skill** dashboard — the same one the weekly and quarterly use — and read the quarter's targets and Projects from there. Update the current numbers on the 12-Month Goals from this month's scoreboard so the pace bars reflect reality, then show progress.

```
Q[X] [YEAR] — QUARTER PROGRESS as of end of [Month]
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
TARGETS                           PROGRESS    PACE
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[Target 1: e.g. 75 new clients]   [X]/75      [On / Behind / Ahead]
[Target 2: $X revenue]            $[X]/[Y]    [On / Behind / Ahead]
[Target 3: X DFY builds]          [X]/[Y]     [On / Behind / Ahead]
[Target 4]                        [X]/[Y]     [On / Behind / Ahead]
[Target 5]                        [X]/[Y]     [On / Behind / Ahead]
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Q[X] PROJECTS — STATUS
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1. [Project]                      [On track / At risk / Off track / Done]
2. [Project]                      [On track / At risk / Off track / Done]
3. [Project]                      [On track / At risk / Off track / Done]
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
```

Calculate pace honestly:
- If you're 1 month into a 3-month quarter, you should be 33% of the way to target
- If you're 2 months in, you should be 66%
- If you're 3 months in, you should be 100%

Anything more than 10% behind pace = at risk. Flag it.

Ask:

> "Looking at this — are we still backing every one of these targets and projects? Or do any of them need to be killed, swapped, or rescoped before next month starts?"

This is the moment to admit when something isn't going to happen. Better to kill it now than drift to the end of the quarter pretending.

---

### Section 4: Systems Audit (15 min)

This is the section that doesn't exist in the weekly. The monthly looks at the systems themselves and asks: are they still working?

**Run the `golden-section` skill here** — a monthly re-audit of where the founder's time and energy actually go. It surfaces which tasks are draining, below the owner's pay grade, or technician-level — i.e. what to systemise, delegate, or cut before next month. Reclaiming the founder's hours is usually the highest-leverage system change of the month. Then walk each of the 6 Pillars (Mindset, Sales, Product, Marketing, Operations, Finance). For each pillar, ask:

```
PILLAR: [Name]
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Q: Is the system working?                  [YES / KIND OF / NO]
Q: Is it being run consistently?           [YES / KIND OF / NO]
Q: Has it changed in the last 30 days?     [YES / NO]
Q: Should it change in the next 30 days?   [YES / NO]
NOTES: [Why? What's the friction?]
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
```

Run this fast — 2 min per pillar. The goal is to surface drift, not solve it here. Anything flagged becomes input to Section 5.

**Specific systems to check (run quickly):**
- Weekly alignment cadence — did the owner run it every week this month? If not, that's the #1 problem.
- Scoreboard — is it being updated daily/weekly?
- Sales pipeline — clean and up to date?
- Marketing engine — ads running? content shipping? funnels live?
- Delivery — clients on track? any churn risk?
- Personal OS — sleep, training, Seed of Life — running?

Use the conversation history to verify. the owner might say "yeah, the weekly meeting is running." Search for "weekly alignment" — if there's a 2-week gap, it's not running.

#### Problems List review (shared, ~5 min)

Open the **`problems-list` skill** — the same one the weekly and quarterly use; it autosaves and carries across sessions. Then:
- Mark anything resolved this month as Solved (proof of progress).
- Any **recurring loss** (Section 1) or **systemic issue** found in the audit above gets logged as a problem with its root cause and a proposed test — at the monthly level these are usually system problems, not one-offs.
- The dashboard re-sorts by severity and graphs the load by pillar; the heaviest pillar should match what the audit surfaced. If it doesn't, dig into why.

This keeps one continuous problems list across all three cadences. See `references/living-documents.md`.

---

### Section 5: Adjustments for Next Month (7 min)

Based on Sections 1-4, decide what changes:

```
NEXT MONTH ADJUSTMENTS — [Month Year]
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
KEEP DOING (working — don't change)
  → [Item]
  → [Item]

START DOING (new system, new focus, new test)
  → [Item] — [Owner] — [Start date]
  → [Item] — [Owner] — [Start date]

STOP DOING (kill list — drains energy or doesn't work)
  → [Item]
  → [Item]

CHANGE (system needs adjusting, not killing)
  → [Item — what changes specifically]
  → [Item — what changes specifically]
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

#1 FOCUS FOR NEXT MONTH
[One sentence — the single thing that matters most]

TOP 3 PROJECTS / OUTCOMES FOR NEXT MONTH
1. [Outcome]
2. [Outcome]
3. [Outcome]
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
```

Limit Start Doing to 3 max. More than that and nothing gets traction. The Stop Doing list is often more important than the Start Doing list.

---

### Section 6: Conclude (3 min)

Wrap up:

```
MONTHLY ALIGNMENT — [Month Year]

THE MONTH IN ONE SENTENCE
[the owner writes/says one sentence summarising the month]

THIS MONTH'S RATING: [X]/10
NEXT MONTH'S CONFIDENCE: [X]/10

ONE WORD FOR NEXT MONTH: [Word]
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
```

Ask:
- "Rate the month. 1-10."
- "Rate your confidence going into next month. 1-10."
- "If next month had a one-word theme, what would it be?"

Save the summary for next month's comparison.

---

## Data Integration

### Stripe Pull (at meeting start)
- Calendar month total cash collected
- Number of new customers by product
- MRR start vs end of month
- Refunds, failed payments, churn
- Compare to last month and (if available) same month prior year

### Calendar Pull (at meeting start)
- Calls booked vs completed vs no-shows in the month
- Travel days, days off, focus blocks
- Density of meetings — was the calendar healthy or chaotic?

### Conversation Search (at meeting start)
- Pull last 4 weekly alignments to extract recurring wins, losses, and problems
- Search "monthly alignment snapshot" and legacy "monthly review snapshot" / "Monthly-Review-" for prior month comparison
- Search "26 Keys" for any standalone diagnostics that ran during the month
- Pull current quarter's vision doc / projects for Section 3

### Snapshot Persistence
At the end of the meeting, save a snapshot under the heading **"MONTHLY ALIGNMENT SNAPSHOT — [Month Year]"** so it can be retrieved next month for comparison.

---

## Output Format — MANDATORY

**This is the most important step of the meeting. Without it, none of the work compounds.**

Every Monthly Alignment MUST produce a saved file at the end. This is what gives the project ongoing context — next month's review pulls from this month's file, the quarterly review pulls from the three months in the quarter, and the AI in the project gets smarter every month because the snapshot is in its knowledge.

### What to produce

Generate a single Markdown file using the create_file tool, then present it via the present_files tool. Do this automatically at the end of every meeting — do not skip, do not output the summary inline only. The file is the deliverable.

**Then auto-file it — no double-handling.** Ask once: *"File this to your Drive Operations folder?"* On yes, use the Google Drive MCP (`tool_search` → `Google Drive:create_file`) to write the `.md` straight into Drive. Future reviews (and the quarterly) pull it via Drive search, so the work compounds without any manual upload. Project knowledge is optional and manual — it's the one step that can't be automated; offer it only if the owner wants the snapshot in-context for the AI. See `references/living-documents.md`.

**Filename pattern:** `Monthly-Alignment-YYYY-MM.md` (e.g. `Monthly-Alignment-2026-04.md` for April 2026's review)

**Save location:** `/mnt/user-data/outputs/Monthly-Alignment-YYYY-MM.md`

### File contents

```markdown
# Monthly Alignment — [Month Year]

> Generated [date]. Auto-filed to your Drive Operations folder; next month's review and the quarterly pull it from there.

---

## The Month in One Sentence
[their summary]

## Ratings
- **The month:** [X]/10
- **Confidence going into next month:** [X]/10
- **One word for next month:** [Word]

---

## Wins & Losses

### Business Wins
- [Win]
- [Win]

### Personal Wins
- [Win]
- [Win]

### Business Losses / What Didn't Work
- [Loss]
- [Loss]

### Personal Losses
- [Loss]
- [Loss]

### Patterns Identified
- **What worked best:** [The win with biggest impact + why]
- **Recurring loss (2+ months):** [If applicable]
- **What surprised me:** [Win or loss that wasn't expected]

---

## Numbers — [Month Year] vs [Last Month]

### Finance
| KPI | This Month | Last Month | Δ | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Revenue | $[X] | $[X] | [↑↓→ %] | [🟢🟠🔴] |
| New Revenue | $[X] | $[X] | [↑↓→ %] | [🟢🟠🔴] |
| Trailing Revenue | $[X] | $[X] | [↑↓→ %] | [🟢🟠🔴] |
| Profit | $[X] | $[X] | [↑↓→ %] | [🟢🟠🔴] |
| Profit Margin | [X]% | [X]% | [↑↓→] | [🟢🟠🔴] |
| MRR | $[X] | $[X] | [↑↓→ %] | [🟢🟠🔴] |
| Cash in Bank | $[X] | $[X] | [↑↓→ %] | [🟢🟠🔴] |
| Ad Spend | $[X] | $[X] | [↑↓→ %] | [🟢🟠🔴] |
| New Revenue MER | [X]x | [X]x | [↑↓→] | [🟢🟠🔴] |
| CAC Payback | [X] mo | [X] mo | [↑↓→] | [🟢🟠🔴] |

### Marketing
[Same table format]

### Sales
[Same table format]

### Operations
[Same table format]

### The Story Behind the Numbers
- **Biggest mover:** [KPI + what drove it]
- **Flipped colour:** [KPI + from what to what]
- **Red 2+ months:** [Systemic issues — call out by name]

---

## Quarter-to-Date — Q[X] [Year]

### Targets
| Target | Progress | Pace | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| [Target] | [X]/[Y] | [X]% of [Y]% expected | [On / Behind / Ahead] |

### Projects
| Project | Status |
|---|---|
| [Project] | [On track / At risk / Off track / Done] |

### Decisions Made This Review
- **Killed:** [Anything dropped from quarterly plan]
- **Swapped:** [Anything replaced]
- **Rescoped:** [Anything reduced or expanded]

---

## Systems Audit — 6 Pillars

| Pillar | Working? | Consistent? | Changed last 30d? | Change next 30d? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mindset | [Y/K/N] | [Y/K/N] | [Y/N] | [Y/N] | [Notes] |
| Sales | [Y/K/N] | [Y/K/N] | [Y/N] | [Y/N] | [Notes] |
| Product | [Y/K/N] | [Y/K/N] | [Y/N] | [Y/N] | [Notes] |
| Marketing | [Y/K/N] | [Y/K/N] | [Y/N] | [Y/N] | [Notes] |
| Operations | [Y/K/N] | [Y/K/N] | [Y/N] | [Y/N] | [Notes] |
| Finance | [Y/K/N] | [Y/K/N] | [Y/N] | [Y/N] | [Notes] |

### Cadence Check
- **Weekly alignment:** [Ran X/4 weeks this month]
- **Scoreboard updated:** [Yes / Partially / No]
- **Sales pipeline:** [Clean / Stale / Unclear]
- **Personal OS (sleep, training, SOL):** [Running / Slipping / Broken]

---

## Next Month — [Next Month Year]

### #1 Focus
[One sentence — the single thing that matters most]

### Top 3 Outcomes
1. [Outcome]
2. [Outcome]
3. [Outcome]

### Keep Doing
- [Item]
- [Item]

### Start Doing (max 3)
- [Item] — [Owner] — [Start date]
- [Item] — [Owner] — [Start date]

### Stop Doing
- [Item]
- [Item]

### Change
- [Item — what changes specifically]

---

## Reference for Next Review

Next month's review (and the end-of-quarter review) pulls this file from Drive (search) — or project knowledge if you added it there — to:
- Compare numbers month-over-month
- Track which "Start Doing" items actually got done
- Verify "Stop Doing" actually stopped
- Watch for recurring losses (signal: 2+ months in a row)
- Update quarter pace tracking
```

### After generating the file

1. Use `create_file` to write it to `/mnt/user-data/outputs/Monthly-Alignment-YYYY-MM.md`
2. Use `present_files` to surface it to the user
3. Use the Google Drive MCP to **auto-file it to the Drive Operations folder** (on a one-word confirm). This is the step that makes it compound — but it's automatic now, not a manual chore. Project knowledge stays optional.

Sample close-out message:

> Done. File saved as `Monthly-Alignment-2026-04.md` — and filed to your Drive Operations folder. Next month's review and the quarterly pull it automatically from there, so every review compounds: quarter trends emerge, recurring losses get caught, the picture sharpens every 30 days.

### Why this matters
- **Compounding context.** The Drive archive (and project knowledge, if used) accumulates a longitudinal view. The AI in the project will reference past months when running future reviews, weekly alignments, and the quarterly review.
- **Quarterly review fuel.** The end-of-quarter review pulls all 3 monthly files at once and runs trend analysis across them.
- **Pattern detection.** Recurring red flags, repeated losses, and stalled "Start Doing" items only become visible across multiple monthly snapshots.

---

## Inline Summary (for the conversation)

After generating the file, also display a condensed inline summary in the chat:

```
# Monthly Alignment — [Month Year]

## The Month in One Sentence
[their summary]

## Wins & Losses
[Two-column list]

## Numbers (vs Last Month)
[Scorecard with month-over-month deltas]
[Biggest movers + recurring red flags]

## Quarter-to-Date
[Targets with pace]
[Projects with status]

## Systems Audit
[6 pillars + which need attention]

## Next Month
- Keep: [list]
- Start: [list]
- Stop: [list]
- Change: [list]
- #1 Focus: [one sentence]
- Top 3 outcomes: [list]

## Ratings
- The month: [X]/10
- Confidence going forward: [X]/10
- One word: [word]
```

---

## Condensed Version (30 min)

When time is tight, run a condensed version:

```
1. Top 3 wins, top 3 losses                  → 5 min
2. Numbers (just the headline scorecard)     → 8 min
3. Quarter pace check                        → 3 min
4. Systems audit (red flags only)            → 7 min
5. Top 3 changes for next month              → 5 min
6. Rate + close                              → 2 min
```

---

## Key Principles

- **The file IS the system.** No saved file = no compounding. The Markdown snapshot auto-filed to Drive is the one non-negotiable deliverable. Without it the meeting was a chat, not a review.
- **Monthly is a different lens than weekly.** Weekly fixes problems. Monthly fixes systems.
- **Trends over events.** A bad week is noise. A bad month is signal. A bad quarter is a system failure.
- **Losses are equal to wins.** Don't skip the loss column — that's where the learning lives.
- **Honest pace check.** If you're behind on quarter targets, admit it now. Drifting kills businesses.
- **Less Start Doing, more Stop Doing.** Subtraction beats addition almost every time.
- **One word for next month.** Forces clarity. "Build" vs "Polish" vs "Sell" lead to very different months.
- **Run it OUTSIDE the weekly meeting.** Don't try to combine. Different cadences serve different purposes.
- **Best run on the last day of the month or the first day of the new one.** Either works. Consistency matters more than which.
