Product strategy doc — 5-part GSBS structure

Produce a locked product strategy document that anchors the agent-native PM operating loop. Adapted from /ce-strategy in EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin v3.5.0 (MIT). Based on Marcus Moretti's AI PM Guide (Every.to) and Richard Rumelt's Good Strategy Bad Strategy.

This is not a spec or PRD. Strategy describes the guiding policy (what we'll do and why); requirements describe the artifacts (what we'll build). Keep them separate.

When to run

Invoke when the user says:

• "Run product strategy for [Genesys ship / client product]"
• "What's our strategy for [product]?"
• "Time for the quarterly strategy refresh"
• "Run the strategy interview"

Do NOT invoke when:

• User wants positioning / category framing → /positioning (PMM-side, different artifact)
• User wants a feature spec / PRD → external product-management:write-spec plugin
• User wants the daily product pulse → /product-pulse (downstream of this skill)
• User wants post-ship learnings → /ship-learnings

Workflow sequences:

• New product: company-context → icp-research → positioning → strategy-doc → product-pulse → ship-learnings
• Refresh: ship-learnings (last cycle) + product-pulse (last cycle) → strategy-doc (refreshed)

Inputs

Required:

• Product name + 1-line description
• Stakeholder for review (founder / PM / ops lead)

Recommended (improve quality):

• company-context — firmographics, traction, qualification context
• icp-research / icp-behavioural — sharpens the "who-for" section
• positioning — gives anchors and differentiators (the "approach")
• win-loss-analysis — what users actually pay for vs. ignore
• Latest product-pulse and ship-learnings from prior cycle (for refresh runs)

If inputs missing: Run a 5-section guided interview anyway. Flag data gaps. Recommend running upstream skills before lock.

The 5 parts (GSBS structure)

The doc has exactly 5 sections. Don't add more. Don't merge them.

1. Target problem

A recurring, expensive problem worth solving. Not "better tools for X." Specific. Cite evidence (user quotes, win-loss patterns, support tickets).

Anti-pattern: "Help users [verb] better." Vague. Reject.

2. Approach (guiding policy, not features)

How we'll solve the target problem. The policy that guides every feature decision — not the features themselves. One-paragraph statement that someone could apply to a feature decision without seeing this doc.

Anti-pattern: A list of features ("we'll build X, Y, Z"). Reject — that's a roadmap.

3. Who-for (one persona, ideally)

The persona we focus on first. Per Crossing the Chasm: "ideally one." If two, justify why and which leads. If three or more, reject — the strategy isn't focused enough.

Anti-pattern: "PMs, marketers, and founders." Reject — that's an audience, not a persona.

4. Key metrics (SMART, anti-vanity)

2-4 metrics. Each must:

• Be Specific (named, not "engagement")
• Be Measurable (have a data source — name it)
• Be Achievable (target value, not aspirational)
• Be Relevant (ties back to target problem)
• Be Time-bound (deadline)

Apply the K2 anti-vanity-metrics rule: page views, impressions, MAU without conversion are rejected. Per Moretti: "Pick the metrics that undeniably show people are getting value."

Anti-pattern: "Increase engagement." Reject. Specify what engagement, measured how, to what target, by when.

5. Tracks (2-4 core capabilities)

The 2-4 capabilities the team will build to deliver the approach. Not features — capability areas (e.g., "fast onboarding," "AI-native search," "collaborative workflows").

If you have >4, you're not focused. Cut. If you have <2, the strategy is probably a single feature dressed as strategy.

Steps

1. Phase 1 — Pre-interview load. Read recommended inputs (company-context, icp-research, positioning, latest ship-learnings). Surface data gaps before starting the interview.
2. Phase 2 — Guided interview. Walk the user through 5 questions, one per section. Push back when answers are vague (the anti-patterns above are common). The interview is the work — the doc is the artifact.
3. Phase 3 — Draft. Compose the 5-section doc. Apply length discipline: each section ≤ 250 words, total ≤ 1500 words.
4. Phase 4 — Self-roast. Run the checks below. Surface any failures before review.
5. Phase 5 — Review gate (Level 3). Stakeholder review. Iterate until approved.
6. Phase 6 — Lock. Set status: locked, locked_by, locked_date, lock_version: 1. Doc is now the canonical strategy reference for the cycle.
7. Phase 7 — Schedule next refresh. Schedule a quarterly refresh via the /schedule skill or Trigger.dev cron. Default: 90 days.

Self-roast (run before review)

• Target problem cites specific evidence (user quote, win-loss pattern, ticket count) — not generic
• Approach is a policy, not a feature list
• Who-for is one persona (or 2 with justification); not an audience
• Each metric passes SMART; no vanity metrics (page views / impressions / MAU without conversion)
• Tracks count 2-4; each is a capability area, not a feature
• Total word count ≤ 1500 (single-document discipline; if longer, the strategy is unfocused)
• No requirements / specs leaked in (K6: strategy ≠ PRD)
• Refresh date scheduled

{Product name} — Product strategy

Locked: {date} · Stakeholder: {name} · Refresh: {next date}

1. Target problem

{specific, evidence-backed statement}

2. Approach

{guiding policy paragraph}

3. Who-for

{persona — ideally one}

4. Key metrics

Metric	Source	Target	By when
...	...	...	...

5. Tracks

1. {Track 1} — {capability description}
2. {Track 2} —...

## Composition rule reference

This skill is the anchor of the **PM closed loop** (P3 in `.claude/discovery/0526-every-ai-pm-guide-steal-analysis.md`). See [.claude/rules/pm-loop.md](../../../../../rules/pm-loop.md) for how `strategy-doc` ↔ `product-pulse` ↔ `ship-learnings` compose.

## Attribution

Adapted from [EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin](https://github.com/EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin) v3.5.0 (MIT). Source pattern: `/ce-strategy`. Framework basis: Richard Rumelt, *Good Strategy Bad Strategy*. Persona constraint basis: Geoffrey Moore, *Crossing the Chasm*.