Design an out-of-office that actually protects the time off — the auto-reply that routes instead of apologizes, the coverage map behind it, and the pre-departure handoff that prevents the beach laptop. Use when asked write my out of office message, going on vacation what do I set up, cover my work while I'm out, or I always come back to chaos. Produces the OOO message with routing, the coverage assignments confirmed, the pre-departure checklist, and the re-entry buffer plan.
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Use out-of-office-designer to create my routed out-of-office package for [absence dates and reachability], [likely requests and confirmed coverers], and [in-flight work and deadlines], including a padded return date, defined urgent path, handoff briefs, and re-entry buffer plan.
Required inputs
[absence dates and reachability]
[likely requests and confirmed coverers]
[in-flight work and deadlines]
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SKILL.md
name: out-of-office-designerdescription: "Design an out-of-office that actually protects the time off — the auto-reply that routes instead of apologizes, the coverage map behind it, and the pre-departure handoff that prevents the beach laptop. Use when asked write my out of office message, going on vacation what do I set up, cover my work while I'm out, or I always come back to chaos. Produces the OOO message with routing, the coverage assignments confirmed, the pre-departure checklist, and the re-entry buffer plan."
Out Of Office Designer Skill
An out-of-office message is the visible 10% of a system whose real job is making the absence survivable without you — and most OOO setups are an apology with dates. The working version routes: every likely need maps to a named human who agreed to it, the auto-reply states who-for-what, urgent has a real path that isn't your phone, and the return date in the message is padded a day so re-entry isn't a 400-email ambush during back-to-back meetings.
What This Skill Produces
The OOO message — dates (padded), routing by need, the urgent path, no apology
The coverage map — likely needs → named coverers, each confirmed, each briefed
The pre-departure checklist — the handoffs, the expectations set, the deadlines moved before they become someone's surprise
The re-entry plan — the buffer day, the triage-first rule, the coverage debrief
Required Inputs
Ask for these if not provided:
The dates and the real reachability — genuinely offline, reachable-for-emergencies (define emergency), or working-remotely-lite (a different message entirely)
The likely needs — what people usually come to them for; each needs a coverer or an explicit "waits until I'm back"
The coverers — names, and whether they've actually agreed (a coverage map nobody consented to is fiction)
In-flight work — what's mid-stream, with deadlines that land during the absence
Framework: The Protection Rules
Route, don't apologize: "I'm away [dates]. For X, contact [A]; for Y, [B]; everything else I'll answer from [padded return date]." No "sorry for any inconvenience" — absence is normal; the message's job is routing, and apology invites exception-seeking.
Pad the return date: message says you're back a day later than reality — the buffer day absorbs the backlog triage, the coverage debrief, and re-entry without meetings stacked on hour one. This is the single highest-value line in the design.
Coverage is consent plus briefing: each coverer gets a one-page brief per handoff (state, next step, escalation line, the do-not-decide list) — see the handoff discipline in session-handoff; the same rules apply to humans.
Urgent gets one narrow path: a single named person who can reach you for a defined emergency ("production down, deal collapsing — not scheduling"). No path = your phone becomes the path; too-wide path = everything is urgent.
Pre-departure beats remediation: the week before: deadlines landing mid-absence get moved or delegated now, stakeholders get told before the auto-reply tells them, and the last day ends with the handoff briefs sent — not started.
Output Format
OOO Design: [dates] — reachability: [mode]
The Message
[The auto-reply, verbatim: padded dates · routing lines · the urgent path · zero apology]
Coverage Map
Likely need
Coverer (confirmed?)
Briefed
Escalation
Pre-Departure Checklist
[Deadlines moved · stakeholders pre-told · briefs sent · calendar blocked for the buffer day]
Re-Entry
[Buffer day: triage-first (the email-triage pass), coverage debrief, no meetings before noon]
Quality Checks
The message routes by need and contains no apology
The stated return date is padded by a day
Every coverer confirmed and holds a brief
"Urgent" is defined, with one named path
Mid-absence deadlines were moved before departure, not discovered after
Anti-Patterns
Do not write dates-and-sorry — an OOO without routing just redirects everything to your return
Do not name coverers who haven't agreed — that's delegation by ambush
Do not leave "urgent" undefined — undefined urgency defaults to everything
Do not return to a full calendar — the buffer day is part of the vacation's ROI
Do not check email "just a little" on a genuinely-offline plan — one reply resets everyone's expectations of your absence