For consultantsTemplates

Write a scope of work, for consultants

Turn rough notes about a piece of work into a scope of work that says what will be delivered, how each part is accepted, what is left out and what is still unknown, without inventing any detail.

This is the version for consultants. The steps and checks are the same as in the general template; each prompt carries one added line about your setting, and the examples are from your kind of work.

Sample results: runs and scores on this page are illustrations while testing is set up. How we test

  • Who it is for: Independent consultants and small-firm partners who turn a client conversation into a scope of work the client can sign before the work starts.
  • Time: 20 minutes

Download it, in the format you use

  • Prompt chain

    Copy each step into ChatGPT or Claude, one after another.

  • Checklist

    Follow the steps and check off the checks by hand.

  • Claude skill

    A folder Claude loads, so it follows the steps by itself.

  • n8n file

    Import into n8n and connect your own AI account.

Using a download:How to use this in n8nHow to install a Claude skill

How it runs

Select a part to see its prompt, input, output and check.

The same job, with and without the template

Sample

One plain prompt

Write a scope of work for this job from my notes. (The same notes are pasted below.)

Scope of Work: Returns Process Review

Scope: The consultant will review the furniture maker's returns process and propose a simpler one.

Deliverables:

  1. A draft report by December 15.
  2. A final report by January 31, including a process map and an implementation plan.
  3. One training session for up to 10 staff on the new process.

Approach: The consultant will analyze the returns spreadsheet and interview 15 customers.

Fee: 6,500 dollars, with 40 percent due on signing and the balance within 14 days of the final report.

Approval: The owner will approve all deliverables.

Ownership: The furniture maker owns all reports and materials produced.

Problem:It invents a training session for 10 staff, interviews with 15 customers, a 40 percent deposit and a 14-day payment term, names the owner as the approver, and never asks about the spreadsheet gaps.

With this template

The same input, run through the steps.

Purpose

The furniture maker asks an independent consultant to review its returns process and write a short report that proposes a simpler one. The fee the furniture maker has in mind is about 6,500 dollars.

What will be delivered

  • A draft report that proposes a simpler returns process.
  • The final report.

Timeline

  • The draft is due on December 15.
  • The final report is due by the end of January.

Not included

  • Putting the new process into use.
  • Rebuilding or cleaning the returns spreadsheet.

Assumptions

  • The review rests on the returns spreadsheet, which holds roughly 2,000 rows covering 3 years.

What the asker provides

  • The returns spreadsheet.
  • The customer service manager as the day-to-day contact.

How the work is accepted

  • The draft is in a place the furniture maker can open, and it opens, by December 15.
  • The final report is in the same place by the end of January, and the person who approves it has read it.

Questions to settle first

  • Who approves the report: the owner or the customer service manager?
  • Does the work include training staff on the new process?
  • May the consultant speak to customers?
  • What should be done about gaps in the spreadsheet?
  • Check:Each item is marked stated, missing or unclear: Eight items marked: 6 stated, 1 unclear (who approves) and 1 missing (limits on the work).
  • Check:Every deliverable has a way to accept it and a due date: Two deliverables (the draft and the final report), each with a way to accept it and a due phrase from the notes.
  • Check:The scope of work is 600 words or fewer: About 220 words.
  • Check:Every figure in the draft is in the notes: Every figure in the draft (6,500, 15, 2,000 and 3) is in the notes.
  • Check:Every name, date and amount comes from the notes: No payment term, training session, interview count or approver is stated; each is asked as a question.
  • Check:Every missing or unclear item is asked as a question: The unclear approver and the missing limits (training and customer contact) are under Questions to settle first, with the spreadsheet gaps.
  • For your read:The other side could start without asking: Could the consultant start without asking anything that is not already in the questions?

Runs and scores

Sample

Claude, Sonnet model

October 4, 2026, typical sample

  • Check:Each item is marked stated, missing or unclear

    Eight items marked: 6 stated, 1 unclear (who approves) and 1 missing (limits on the work).

  • Check:Every deliverable has a way to accept it and a due date

    Two deliverables (the draft and the final report), each with a way to accept it and a due phrase from the notes.

  • Check:The scope of work is 600 words or fewer

    About 220 words.

  • Check:Every figure in the draft is in the notes

    Every figure in the draft (6,500, 15, 2,000 and 3) is in the notes.

  • Check:Every name, date and amount comes from the notes

    No payment term, training session, interview count or approver is stated; each is asked as a question.

  • Check:Every missing or unclear item is asked as a question

    The unclear approver and the missing limits (training and customer contact) are under Questions to settle first, with the spreadsheet gaps.

  • For your read:The other side could start without asking

    Could the consultant start without asking anything that is not already in the questions?

Fixed: Nothing needed fixing: every check passed on the first pass.

Met 7 of 7

1 of these is for your read: the tool hands it to you.

ChatGPT, GPT model

October 5, 2026, tricky sample

  • Check:Each item is marked stated, missing or unclear

    Eight items marked: 2 stated, 5 unclear and 1 missing.

  • Check:Every deliverable has a way to accept it and a due date

    Two deliverables (the draft and the first version), each with a way to accept it and a due date from the notes.

  • Check:The scope of work is 600 words or fewer

    The draft is about 330 words.

  • First pass failed:Every figure in the draft is in the notes

    The first draft said the review of the 12 months of quotes would take 5 days; 5 is not in the notes.

  • Failed:Every name, date and amount comes from the notes

    The draft promises a one-page guide for estimators, which the notes never ask for.

  • Check:Every missing or unclear item is asked as a question

    The unclear purpose, deliverable, budget, approver and interviews, and the missing limits, are all under Questions to settle first.

  • For your read:The other side could start without asking

    Could the consultant start without asking anything that is not already in the questions, given how much is still open?

Fixed: The draft step ran again once, which removed the invented figure and cleared that failure, but the draft still promised a one-page guide for estimators, so that check failed again and the run stopped there and flagged it for you.

Met 6 of 7

  • Not met:Every name, date and amount comes from the notes: The draft still promises a one-page guide for estimators, which the notes never ask for.

1 of these is for your read: the tool hands it to you.

n8n, import format 2.20

October 6, 2026, easy sample

  • Check:Each item is marked stated, missing or unclear

    Eight items marked: all 8 stated.

  • Check:Every deliverable has a way to accept it and a due date

    Two deliverables (the workshop and the one-page summary), each with a way to accept it and a due date from the notes.

  • Check:The scope of work is 600 words or fewer

    The draft is about 200 words.

  • Check:Every figure in the draft is in the notes

    Every figure in the draft (12, 22, 9, 30, 1,400 and 29) is in the notes.

  • Check:Every name, date and amount comes from the notes

    Every name, date and amount comes from the notes, and nothing is promised beyond the workshop and the summary.

  • Check:Every missing or unclear item is asked as a question

    No item was marked missing or unclear, so Questions to settle first says there are none.

  • For your read:The other side could start without asking

    Could the consultant start without asking anything, with nothing left open?

Fixed: Nothing needed fixing: every check passed on the first pass.

Met 7 of 7

1 of these is for your read: the tool hands it to you.

The steps, and the check on each

  1. Step 1: Sort what is known from what is missing

    Go through the parts of a scope of work and mark each as stated in the notes, missing or unclear.

    Hands back: A table of eight items, each marked stated, missing or unclear.

    Check:Each item is marked stated, missing or unclear

    A plain rule. If it fails, run the step again (the n8n file does this for you).

  2. Step 2: List each deliverable and how it is accepted

    Name each thing that will be handed over, what the approver will see when it is done, and when it is due.

    Hands back: A table of each deliverable with how it is accepted and when it is due.

    Check:Every deliverable has a way to accept it and a due date

    A plain rule. If it fails, run the step again (the n8n file does this for you).

  3. Step 3: Set the edges of the work

    List what is not included, what is assumed and what the asker provides, using only what the notes support.

    Hands back: Three short lists that set the edges of the work.

    No separate check on this step.

  4. Step 4: Write the scope of work

    Put the deliverables, edges and open questions into one scope of work that both sides can read in five minutes.

    Hands back: A scope of work with eight headings, ending in the questions still to settle.

    Check:The scope of work is 600 words or fewer

    A plain rule. If it fails, run the step again (the n8n file does this for you).

After the last step

  • Check:Every figure in the draft is in the notes

    A plain rule. If it fails, run the step again (the n8n file does this for you).

  • Check:Every name, date and amount comes from the notes

    A second look by the AI. If it fails, run the step again (the n8n file does this for you).

  • Check:Every missing or unclear item is asked as a question

    A second look by the AI. If it fails, run the step again (the n8n file does this for you).

  • Check:The other side could start without asking

    You check this one. If it fails, it is flagged for you.

What you need first

  • Your notes about the work(needed)

    Paste everything you know, in any order. What is needed, why, who it is for, when, the money, and who decides. Rough is fine.

  • Who is asking and who will do the work(needed)

    Name the roles, not the contract. Say who asks, who does the work, and who approves.

Ways to adapt it

  • If you are the one doing the work, say so in the line about who is asking, and send the questions to the asker before you quote a price.
  • This template writes the work, not the legal terms. If your organization has a standard contract, attach the scope to it as the description of the work.
  • To add a section your organization always uses, add its heading to the last step's list and to its rules.
  • To change the length, change 600 in the last step's rules and in its check, both.

Change any step or check in the Editor, then download it again.

Words that fit consultants

  • Scope of work, statement of work and engagement letter are used loosely. This template writes the part that says what is delivered and what is left out.
  • A change request is any work the client asks for that sits under Not included or Questions to settle first.
  • The client approves and you deliver. Name those roles in the line about who is asking, not the contract.
  • Fee, budget and day rate are different things. Write the figure the notes give and ask about the rest.
Try it with a sampleSample

Rough notes with most of the facts, an approver who is not settled (the owner, or the customer service manager) and no word on training or customer contact; the fee is stated as about.

Your notes about the work
A furniture maker with about 40 staff wants me to look at its returns process and write a short report that proposes a simpler one. They keep returns in a spreadsheet of roughly 2,000 rows covering 3 years. The customer service manager will send me the spreadsheet and be my day-to-day contact. They want a draft by December 15 and the final report by the end of January. The fee they have in mind is about 6,500 dollars. The owner will approve the report, or maybe the customer service manager will sign it off; they have not said which. Nobody has said whether I would also train staff on the new process or speak to customers, and the owner mentioned the spreadsheet might have some gaps.
Who is asking and who will do the work
The furniture maker is asking; I, an independent consultant, will do the work

The scoring guide

Sample

One criterion for each check, marked met or not met. (The guides in Quality rate a whole piece of work on three levels.) Under each one is how the three sample runs scored.

Download the scoring guide (Markdown)

  • Each item is marked stated, missing or unclear

    A plain rule

    Meets:Each of the eight items is marked stated, missing or unclear.
    Does not meet:An item is left out of the table or has another word, such as partly.
    Claude:Met
    ChatGPT:Met
    n8n:Met

  • Every deliverable has a way to accept it and a due date

    A plain rule

    Meets:Every deliverable has a way to accept it and a due date, or the words to confirm.
    Does not meet:A deliverable has a blank in Accepted when or Due, or a date the notes never gave.
    Claude:Met
    ChatGPT:Met
    n8n:Met

  • The scope of work is 600 words or fewer

    A plain rule

    Meets:The scope of work is 600 words or fewer when you count them.
    Does not meet:The scope of work runs past 600 words.
    Claude:Met
    ChatGPT:Met
    n8n:Met

  • Every figure in the draft is in the notes

    A plain rule

    Meets:Every figure in the draft appears in the notes.
    Does not meet:The draft contains a figure the notes do not.
    Claude:Met
    ChatGPT:Met
    n8n:Met

  • Every name, date and amount comes from the notes

    A second look by the AI

    Meets:Every name, date, amount and promise in the draft is in the notes, and no choice was made between figures that disagree.
    Does not meet:The draft states something the notes never said, or picks one of two figures that disagree.
    Claude:Met
    ChatGPT:Not met
    n8n:Met

  • Every missing or unclear item is asked as a question

    A second look by the AI

    Meets:Every missing or unclear item is asked under Questions to settle first and is not written as settled elsewhere.
    Does not meet:A missing or unclear item is left out of the questions, or is written as if it were settled.
    Claude:Met
    ChatGPT:Met
    n8n:Met

  • The other side could start without asking

    You check this one

    Meets:The other side could start without asking anything that is not already in the questions.
    Does not meet:The other side would need to ask something new, or you would not commit to a line, and you fix it.
    Claude:For your read
    ChatGPT:For your read
    n8n:For your read

Claude: met 7 of 7 (including 1 for your read)

ChatGPT: met 6 of 7 (including 1 for your read)

n8n: met 7 of 7 (including 1 for your read)

Learn how it works:StepsAdapting a template

Practice:Spot the mistake: client brief

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Last run
October 6, 2026: n8n, import format 2.20 (sample run)
Tools and versions
Claude, Sonnet model; ChatGPT, GPT model; n8n, import format 2.20
What was checked
The files, against each tool’s import format, and 3 sample runs, each check’s finding recorded.
Version
1.0
What changed
First release.

Report a problem with this templateHow we test