CHAPTERS
Ian’s weekly metrics review workflow and why it was painful before
Ian explains his role in marketing ops/analytics and the weekly deliverables he produces: a detailed metrics doc for the team and a one-slide summary for leadership. He contrasts the old, manual process of pulling data from many sources with a new, more automated approach using Claude Cowork.
How Claude Cowork fits: connectors + reusable skills
Ian describes how his Cowork setup is structured around connectors (to data and tools) and “skills” (repeatable procedures). He uses separate skills for preparing the review, proofreading/verification, and managing action items to standardize the weekly process.
Sunday scheduled prep: gathering context, signals, and warehouse data
Claude begins work asynchronously via a scheduled task on Sunday evening. It reads the prior week’s review and meeting transcript, checks Slack for sales priorities, queries the data warehouse, and produces a folder of numbers plus suggested focus areas.
Monday morning handoff: reviewing takeaways and choosing the story
On Monday, Ian opens Cowork to find Claude’s takeaways and proposed focus waiting for him. He emphasizes that while Claude is strong at pulling numbers, Ian remains responsible for narrative direction and deciding what matters that week.
Setting the week’s theme: quarter-turn focus on Q2 plans and QBR input
Because it’s a quarter turn, Ian chooses to focus the review on Q2 planning. He provides the QBR document and instructs Claude what to lead with, integrating strategic planning context into the metrics review.
When data doesn’t line up: flagging gaps and resolving reporting changes
The prep skill is designed to avoid guessing—when inconsistencies appear, Claude flags them and asks questions. A sales team reorg causes a mismatch in reporting structures, and Ian decides to align reporting to the sales team’s new structure.
Proofreading and traceability: verifying every number back to a source
Claude’s proofreading skill checks that every metric in the draft can be traced to a verified data source. This increases confidence in the numbers and reduces the risk of reporting errors or ungrounded claims.
Drafting approach: metrics table and headlines first, then expand
Ian starts with a lightweight first draft containing the metrics table and key headlines. After confirming the outline and messaging, he instructs Claude to expand the content while keeping the agreed-upon headlines unchanged.
Publishing the review: final doc, Slack announcement, and action-item capture
Once the document looks right, Ian gives the final go-ahead (“Ship it”). Claude finalizes the team-facing doc, writes a Slack message for distribution, and converts follow-ups into Asana tasks to ensure accountability.
Leadership reporting: generating a one-slide narrative from the same source of truth
Claude creates a leadership slide that mirrors the same underlying data and narrative. The slide is framed around what changed, why it changed, and what to do next—optimized for executive consumption.
Continuous improvement: capturing learnings and updating the skill for next week
At the end of the cycle, Ian asks Claude what should be incorporated into the skill based on what happened this week. Changes like the new sales structure and Ian’s corrections are saved, and the updated skill can be shared so others can run the process consistently.
