Reporting
How to write a daily competitive intelligence brief people will read
The brief should compress research, not merely forward it. On a quiet day, the correct output may be no material changes.
Set a strict inclusion rule
Include a finding when it changes a current assumption, affects a live deal or roadmap question, or deserves a named follow-up. Routine social promotion and duplicated news should stay in the evidence archive.
A brief can explicitly say no material moves were verified. Inventing activity to fill the email trains recipients to ignore it.
Use a repeatable move format
Write a factual headline. Follow with the observed change, business implication, confidence and evidence. Separate direct facts from interpretation. Add the owner and due date only when action is warranted.
- Move: the smallest accurate description of what changed
- Why it matters: implication for this company, buyer or decision
- Evidence: native source links and relevant excerpts
- Confidence: what is confirmed and what remains uncertain
- Next step: owner and action, or an explicit watch condition
Order by decision value
Put the most consequential move first, not the newest link. Group observations about the same event. Keep secondary evidence accessible without repeating the whole story.
Make delivery observable
Show scheduled, processing, delivered and failed states. Record which address or webhook received the brief. A missed run should be visible and recoverable rather than silently labeled as a quiet day.
Working checklist
Use this in the next review.
- Apply a written materiality threshold.
- Group related observations into one move.
- Separate fact, implication and confidence.
- Link to native evidence.
- Name an owner only when action is justified.
- Expose delivery status and failures.