editorial-review

Editorial Review (structural pass)

Critique and tighten a long deliverable's argument architecture — then hand the prose off to the humanization layer. This skill operates on structure only; it never rewrites sentences and never challenges the ideas.

The full method (document arcs, operation vocabulary, defect checklist, the hard boundary with humanization.md) lives in reference/editorial-review.md. Load it; do not restate it here.

Phase 0: Load context

1. Read reference/editorial-review.md (the document-model arcs, the operation vocabulary, the defect checklist, the boundary table).
2. Read .claude/rules/humanization.md and confirm the boundary. This skill stops at the paragraph. Everything below it belongs to that rule: rhythm, specificity, banned vocabulary, and the calibration gate.
3. Read the target document in full (the file:<path> argument, or the pasted text). Never review a draft you have only skimmed.

Phase 1: Structural pass

1. Select one document model from reference/editorial-review.md (proposal arc, intel-brief arc, investor-narrative arc, argument/decision-note arc, or a generic model). State the choice and its primary rule in one sentence. The form is "This deliverable should follow the {model}; its primary rule is {rule}."
2. Map the structure — list each major section with an approximate word count. This forces measurement before recommendation.
3. Walk the defect checklist. It covers the orphan section, claim-without-evidence, evidence-without-claim, the buried lede, and flat hierarchy. It also covers redundant paragraphs, missing scaffolding, no document-level stance, and scope violation.
4. Emit findings. Tag each with exactly one operation, a one-sentence rationale, and a word-impact estimate. The operations are CUT, MERGE, MOVE, CONDENSE, SPLIT, ADD, PROMOTE, DEMOTE, PRESERVE, and QUESTION. PRESERVE protects comprehension aids from over-cutting, because summaries and examples are reinforcement, not redundancy.
5. Close with the summary block. It carries total recommendations, estimated reduction with its percentage of the original, the meets-length-target verdict, and comprehension trade-offs.
6. Optional — pull a critique method. For a hard restructure, run python scripts/elicit.py show "Critique and Refine" or "Red Team vs Blue Team" from the shared elicitation catalog. Apply it to the argument arc. Skip it when the checklist already bites.
7. APPROVAL GATE. Present the findings. Apply NO structural edit until the CEO approves (per .claude/rules/voice.md: no structural changes without approval). "No substantive changes recommended — the structure is sound" is a valid, explicit completion. On approval, apply only the approved operations, editing structure (move/cut/merge/condense), never wording.