MBB Decks

Generate consulting-grade .pptx decks from a JSON spec. Encodes the MBB house-style rules: action-title storyline, six-section structure, MECE bullets, citation discipline, and a navy-and-white editorial visual system.

When to use

• User asks for an MBB deck, McKinsey-style deck, consulting deck, board pre-read, executive readout, market entry deck, due diligence deck, recommendation deck, or strategy presentation.
• User provides analysis that needs to be turned into slides for a non-technical executive audience.
• User wants a real .pptx file, not a Markdown outline.

Workflow: ghost deck first, expand second

Do NOT skip the ghost-deck step. It is the single biggest quality lever.

0. Verify renderer dependencies (first run only). Before producing any deck, confirm Python 3.9+ and python-pptx are installed by running:

   python3 -c "import pptx; print(f'python-pptx {pptx.__version__} on Python {__import__(\"sys\").version.split()[0]}')"
   

   If this prints a version, skip to step 1. If it errors with ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pptx', tell the user:

   The renderer needs python-pptx. Run pip install python-pptx in your terminal, then say "ready" and I'll continue. Wait for the user to confirm before proceeding. The build script also fails gracefully with the same install message if you skip this check, but checking up front gives a cleaner experience.

1. Ghost deck. Produce only the action titles for every slide (cover, executive summary headline, agenda items, every content slide's action title, recommendation headline). Read them top to bottom as a paragraph. They must form one coherent argument: situation → complication → resolution, or claim → evidence → recommendation.
2. Confirm with the user. Show the ghost deck. Ask: "Does this storyline land? Anything to add, cut, or reorder before I expand?" Wait for confirmation.
3. Expand. Fill in bullets, charts, footnotes, sources. Keep each slide MECE under its action title.
4. Render. Write the JSON spec to disk and call scripts/build_deck.py.

Deck structure (six sections)

Hard cap: 15 slides for sections 1 to 5. Appendix is unbounded.

Action title rules

Every slide except cover, dividers, and appendix divider has an action title. The action title carries the meaning. The body proves it.

• One full sentence, 10 to 15 words. Subject + verb + claim.
• Specific. "Vietnam middle-class spending grows 7% CAGR through 2030" beats "Market is attractive."
• Stand-alone. A reader skimming only the action titles must understand the argument.
• Causal where possible. "X drives Y" beats "X and Y."
• No questions, no labels. "Market sizing" is a label, not an action title. Replace with the finding.

Read all action titles in sequence before writing any body content. If the sequence does not tell a coherent story, fix the storyline before expanding.

MECE bullets

Each slide has 3 to 5 bullets max. They must be:

• Mutually exclusive. No overlap.
• Collectively exhaustive. No obvious gap under the action title.
• Parallel structure. Same grammatical pattern across bullets on a slide.
• Concrete. Numbers, dates, named entities. "Three local partners screened" beats "Several partners considered."

Visual system

Defaults are encoded in scripts/build_deck.py. Do not override unless the user explicitly asks.

Chart families

Pick the chart that matches the claim in the action title.

The script currently renders column-clustered charts cleanly. For other chart types, fall back to bullets and describe the data in prose, then add the chart in PowerPoint manually OR extend the script.

Citation format

• Inline marker in body text: [1], [2], etc., when a specific number or claim needs attribution.
• Source line at the bottom of the slide: Source: [text](url); [text](url). Use markdown-style [text](url) syntax so each source is rendered as a clickable hyperlink in the .pptx. Multiple sources separated by semicolons. Plain text without (url) still works for sources that have no public URL.
• Footnote line above the source: explanatory note about a number (e.g., "Excludes Singapore"). Distinct from source.
• No source line if the slide makes no specific data claim.

Data sourcing rules (critical)

The skill is only as credible as its numbers. These rules apply to every chart, every bullet, every claim with a number in it.

Always use the current year

Today's date is available in your runtime context. Use it.

• For historical data: cite the most recent available release. If a 2026 dataset exists, do not cite the 2023 version.
• For forward-looking projections: forecast labels should start from the current year forward. If today is in 2026, forward years are 2026E, 2027E, 2028E. Never label a past year as E (estimate).
• For "as of" qualifiers in footnotes: say "as of Q[current quarter] [current year]", not a stale date.

Use only authoritative, recognized sources

A short non-exhaustive list of sources Claude should reach for, by domain:

Do NOT use: random blog posts, AI-generated summaries, paywalled content without a verifiable cite, or "Statista projections" as the only source for a numeric claim.

Every source needs a clickable URL when one exists

Format: Source: [BloombergNEF Energy Transition Investment Trends, 2025](https://about.bnef.com/energy-transition-investment/); [IEA World Energy Outlook, 2024](https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2024)

The build script automatically:

• Rende