Execution · Proving to Scaling
Skills for recurring work
You set up one job you do often as a skill, so your AI does it the same way every time without you explaining it again.
Worth reading first: Writing down how you work, without a thick manual, A project with your own documents
Does this sound familiar?
- Every time you ask ChatGPT for a quote, you explain again what your quotes look like.
- Two colleagues get AI to write the same weekly report, and each one comes out different.
- You've got a prompt that works well, and it's buried somewhere in an old chat.
- A new colleague uses AI for client emails, and the tone isn't your company's.
Who it's for, and when
For anyone who works with Claude or ChatGPT and keeps typing the same explanation: for a quote, a weekly report, a job advert. It pays off once a job is repeatable, from Proving onwards. In Searching the work still changes every week, so don't write it down yet.
The model
A skill is a job you write down once for your AI. It has a name, a short description of when it applies, and below that the instructions: what it needs from you, the steps, what the result looks like and what it checks. You can add a template or a good example. Ask for something that matches the description, and your AI picks up the skill by itself.
A way of working is for people, a skill is for the AI. In the lesson Writing down how you work, without a thick manual you write down the purpose, when it applies, the steps and what can go wrong. That's the start of a good skill. The AI needs three things on top that a colleague just knows: which details to ask for, an example of a good result, and a list of what to check before handing it over. If the job still goes differently every time, write the way of working first. A skill for work nobody has agreed on only records how you happened to do it that day.
In Claude they're called Skills, on every plan, including the free one. Code execution has to be switched on in the settings. You make one by asking Claude to build it with you, or you upload a folder with a SKILL.md file. On a Team or Enterprise plan you can share it with colleagues. ChatGPT has Skills too, in the same format, but only on the business plans, and the admin decides who can use them. Where the buttons sit changes often; search for 'skills' in your app's settings.
The lesson A project with your own documents gives your AI the documents for one subject. A skill is about a job, and it works in any chat. If you already have a project for quotes, keep the price list and the examples there and put only the steps and the checks in the skill. And a skill is really a good question you keep; how to ask one is in the lesson Asking AI a good question.
Anthropic introduced Agent Skills for Claude in October 2025 and made the format an open standard (agentskills.io). OpenAI uses the same format for Skills in ChatGPT. The idea underneath is older: describe the work so someone else can do it, from The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber (1995).
1. Name and when
A short name and one sentence on when the skill applies. That sentence is how your AI knows to use it. Write down the words you type yourself: 'quote', 'price estimate', 'put together an offer'.
2. What it needs
Which details does it need before it starts? Client, work, quantities, deadline. Tell it to ask for anything that's missing, and not to make anything up.
3. The steps
From your way of working, in the same order. If the way of working is in Boldcaster, have the skill fetch it through the AI connection (the lesson A company brain) instead of typing it out again. Then there's one source.
4. What it looks like
An example of a good result, ideally a real one you were proud to send. An example says more about tone and structure than a paragraph of explanation.
5. What it checks
Three to five checks before it hands over: do the amounts add up, is the validity period stated, is the greeting right. These are the points under Note in your way of working.
Pitfalls
Everything in one skill
Quotes, invoices and client emails in a single skill. The description then fits almost any question, and the AI doesn't know which part applies. One job per skill.
Nobody checks the result
A skill makes the work faster. Whoever sends it stays responsible for what's in it. Agree who reads the result before it goes out, just as you would with a new colleague's work.
A skill without an owner
The rate changes, so does the template, and the skill keeps doing the old version. Give it the same owner as the way of working, and update it when the way of working changes.
Watch and read
Anthropic in three minutes on what a skill is and how Claude decides for itself when to use one.
Watch on YouTubeHow a skill is built: the description Claude reads first, and the instructions and files it only opens when it needs them.
Watch on YouTubeIn one minute, how Claude asks about your work in a chat and turns it into a skill, without you typing a file.
Watch on YouTubeRead
Co-intelligentie 2026: Slimmer werken met AI
Ethan Mollick, met een voorwoord van Alexander Klöpping · 2025 · ISBN 9789493434271
How to work with AI as a colleague: what you explain to it, what you keep doing yourself and where you check the result. A skill is that explanation, written down once. This is the Dutch edition (280 pages); the English original is Co-Intelligence (2024).
View the bookApply it
- 1
Pick one job
Work you do at least once a month, that has to look the same every time, and where you keep typing the same explanation. A quote, a weekly report for a client, a job advert.
- 2
Start from the way of working
If the job's already approved as a way of working, use that as your basis. If it isn't, write it first with the people who do the work.
Writing down how you work, without a thick manual - 3
Have your AI build the skill with you
Ask Claude: 'I want to make a skill for our quotes.' Claude asks how you do it; give it the way of working, a good example and your template. In ChatGPT you ask the same, if your business account allows skills. Read what comes out and save it.
- 4
Test it in a new chat
Ask the way you normally would, without naming the skill. If the AI doesn't pick it up, sharpen the description. If the result isn't right, adjust the instructions and test again.
- 5
Share it and give it an owner
On a Team or Enterprise plan you share the skill with whoever does the same job. The owner of the way of working is also the owner of the skill.
Examples
Written out: a skill for a quote (installation company)
Name: installation-quote Description: Use for a quote, price estimate or offer for an installation job for a private customer or a business. What you ask first: - Private or business, and the town (the salesperson adds name and address) - What needs doing, with quantities - Preferred start date If anything's missing, ask. Don't make up quantities or prices. Steps: 1. Take the price per item from rates.xlsx (attached). If an item isn't in it, list it as an open item. 2. Work out labour using the hourly rate from the same file. 3. Lay out the quote following example-quote.pdf (attached): greeting, what we'll do, price per item, total, schedule, validity. 4. Write in plain language, formal with a private customer and informal with a regular business client. Check before you hand over: - The total matches the lines, excluding and including VAT - The thirty-day validity is stated - Extra work is listed separately, with the line that we'll flag it first - Open items are at the top, so the salesperson sees them Deliver it as a draft. The salesperson reads it and sends it themselves. Owner: the office team. Update when the rates change.
A weekly report that reads from Boldcaster
Name: client-project-weekly-report Description: Use for a weekly report or status update to a client about a running project. Steps: 1. Ask which project. 2. Fetch that project's tasks from Boldcaster: what's done this week, what's planned for next week, and what's past its deadline. 3. Write three short sections: done, next week, what we need from the client. 4. Don't mention internal names or hours. Check: every point comes from a task; if something isn't in Boldcaster, add it as a question for the project manager.
Wrong and right side by side
Wrong: typing 'make a quote, you know, the way we do it, neat, with VAT' every time. You get a different quote each time, and a colleague gets a third. Right: set up the installation-quote skill once, with the rates sheet and a good quote attached. After that you type 'quote for a private customer in Zwolle, heat pump and two radiators', and it asks for whatever's missing.
Do this in your own business
Everything up to here is free. What you fill in for your own business, you keep in Boldcaster.
- You look back on a situation from your own work. Only you can read what you write.
- You set a date with yourself, and on that day the app asks how it went.
- You assign the lesson to your team and see who has done it.
- The quiz counts towards your progress, and you see which lesson comes next.
Four weeks free. You'll land straight in this lesson.
Quiz
6 situations. You need 5 of 6 right. You can try again at any time.
1.You want to make your first skill. Which job do you pick?
2.Every salesperson writes quotes their own way. You want to turn it into a skill. What do you do first?
3.You've made a skill for client emails, but when you type 'write a reply to this client', Claude doesn't use it. What do you change?
4.The quotes from your skill are correct, but the tone isn't your company's. What helps most?
5.The hourly rate has gone up. Two weeks later a quote goes out at the old rate. What would have prevented this?
6.A colleague has the skill write a quote and sends it straight to the client. One line in it is wrong. What do you agree on?
Nothing is saved here. In the app, the quiz counts towards your progress.
Not sure where to start? Take the growth scan