Use caseWrite
Turn a stack of reports into a brief you can send
A short brief in Word, written from every document in the pile, arguing what you decided it should argue — with a numbered source under every claim that names the report and quotes the passage.
- You start with
- Five to fifteen documents on one subject — filings, vendor reports, a deck — mostly unread, and someone expecting a page or two by a date.
- Time
- About an hour, end to end.
- Your part
- About twenty-five minutes: the questions, the outline, the claims you check, the edits you keep.
What you'll end up with
- A brief in Word, ready to attach — readers open it like anything else.
- A numbered source under every claim, naming the report and quoting the passage, so "where does that come from?" is already answered.
- The same brief as Markdown in your folder, next to the reports it came from.
How to write a brief from a stack of reports, step by step
Open the folder, then ask before you commission.
You ask · MindMax answersAskWhat do these say about whether the supply constraint eases before Q3?
AskWhere do they contradict each other, and on what?
Nothing needs renaming or converting. You are not writing yet — you are finding out what the brief has to argue, and which disagreement it cannot paper over.
Hand the brief over.
You ask · MindMax answersAskTwo pages for the leadership team: does the constraint ease before Q3, and what would change our view.
In the same box, point at the folder with @ and say who reads it and roughly how long it is. The more of step 1 you put into this sentence, the less the draft has to guess.
Argue with the outline.
YouIt comes back before a word is drafted: the sections and the point each makes. Comment on what is off — a conflict turned into consensus, a section nobody asked for. It changes those, not the whole outline. Approve when it argues what you would.
Check the two claims that would embarrass you.
YouThe draft arrives with verbatim quotes that click back to their page. Check the two a sceptical reader will go for. Ninety seconds here is what makes it something you will put your name on.
Mark it up, and take only the edits you want.
You ask · MindMax answersComment where it is wrong, thin or too confident, then revise from your comments. Edits come back grouped, each with its reason, as tracked changes. Nothing changes until you accept a group.
Export to Word.
MindMaxSame layout as on screen. Each citation becomes a numbered superscript linked to its entry in the sources, which names the document and keeps the quoted passage. Attach it and send it.
Leave it where it is.
YouThe Markdown copy sits next to the reports. Next quarter, when the next stack arrives, this brief is part of the material the next one is written from.
Why it works here
An outline you approve before any prose
The agent shows you the sections and what each argues first, and changes only the parts you comment on — so the brief argues your case, not an average of ten summaries.
MindMax Agent →Edits you review, not a new draft
Revising from your comments returns grouped edits with reasons, as tracked changes. You accept one group and reject another; nothing is silently rewritten.
AI revisions →Citations that survive into Word
Every quote clicks back to its page while you work, and becomes a numbered source with the quoted passage in the Word file you send.
Export to Word and PDF →Also used here: Ask questions across a folder · Tracked changes · Region questions · Guide: asking questions about your documents
Where it gets hard
- A vague brief gets a vague draft.
"Summarise these" gets you ten summaries welded together. The sentence in step 2 is the whole specification; the ten minutes in step 1 are what make it a good one.
- A draft can smooth over a real disagreement.
Writing pulls towards a single story. If two reports genuinely conflict, make sure the outline has a section that says so before you approve it — much cheaper to fix there than in the prose.
- Scanned filings are invisible until recognised.
Older and photographed documents need a recognition step you start yourself; the search panel shows how many files are in that state. A report it cannot read is one the brief silently leaves out.
- Numbers in tables and charts need pointing at.
Extracted table text is the least reliable thing in any PDF. If a figure carries the argument, box that region and ask about it, then check the draft's number against the page.
- Only accepted edits are exported.
The Word file is written from the document as it stands. Finish the review before you export.
- Comments in Word do not come back.
Once it is in someone else's hands, their Word comments stay in Word. For a second round, put their points on the Markdown copy as comments and revise from there.
- It will not tell you what to recommend.
The brief argues what you approved in the outline. The judgement is the part you are paid for, and it stays yours.