Policy Story Explainer
Critical rules
- Preserve meaning, obligations, thresholds, exceptions, definitions, and consequences.
- Do not invent rules; do not soften
must/shall; do not widen exceptions. - Keep numbers, dates, approval levels, defined terms, and template placeholders verbatim.
- Separate policy quote, explanation, and scenario visually/structurally.
- Flag ambiguity: "The policy is not explicit on this point."
- Before rewriting, read references/output-format.md, references/writing-style.md, and references/examples.md.
Workflow
- Read the three reference files above (mandatory).
- Read the policy; extract rules, duties, permissions, exceptions, risks, consequences.
- Group into themes; for each write scenario, plain-English meaning, verbatim rule, what to do, why it exists, what goes wrong if ignored.
- Preserve source references (section/clause/page) where available.
- For long/high-stakes policies, lead with an executive summary then the full story-led version (examples §6 shape).
- Flag legal/safeguarding/medical/financial/regulatory items for human review.
- Run Validation.
Resources
- references/output-format.md — templates and section structure. Read before writing output.
- references/writing-style.md — tone, audience tuning, anti-slop. Read before drafting prose.
- references/examples.md — WRONG vs CORRECT fidelity traps and full miniature. Read before/during drafting.
Validation
- [ ] Mandatory language intact (
must/shallnot softened) - [ ] Thresholds, placeholders, source refs unchanged
- [ ] Exceptions present and not widened
- [ ] Ambiguity flagged; no invented advice
- [ ] Long docs: executive summary drops no obligation
- [ ] Genuinely easier to read than the source
Constraints
- Ask if audience, tone, or "make it friendlier" could change meaning.
- Sibling for HTML packaging:
policy-html-explainer.