Product & Design Skills

Start and scale networked products using Andrew Chen''s "The Cold Start Problem" framework for network effects. Use when the user mentions "network effects", "chicken and egg", "cold start", "two-sided marketplace", "atomic network", "hard side", "liquidity", "critical mass", "invite-only launch", or "come for the tool stay for the network". Also trigger when launching a marketplace, social, or collaboration product that is worthless without other users, deciding launch sequencing and seeding tactics, or diagnosing stalled network growth or degradation at scale. Covers the five stages: the cold start, the tipping point, escape velocity, hitting the ceiling, and the moat. For word-of-mouth virality, see contagious. For habit-driven retention, see hooked-ux.

Guided journey from raw idea to a validated, positioned, priced business with a chosen beachhead. Orchestrates ten skills phase by phase - jobs-to-be-done, mom-test, design-sprint, lean-startup, good-strategy-bad-strategy, blue-ocean-strategy, obviously-awesome, hundred-million-offers, monetizing-innovation, crossing-the-chasm - asking the user questions at every decision point and recording results in the project docs/ folder (CUSTOMER.md, POSITIONING.md, OFFER.md, CREATE-BUSINESS-PLAN.md) so the journey resumes across sessions. Use when the user wants to start a new business, validate a startup idea, find product-market fit before building, or says ''I have an idea for a company''. Do not use once the business has paying customers: use grow-business to add revenue and customers, or improve-business to fix strategy and operations. For building the product itself use create-app or create-website. For one framework in isolation, invoke that skill directly.

Guided journey from an app idea to a deliberate architecture: boundaries, domain model, data decisions, and resilience, making only the expensive-to-reverse decisions and deferring the rest. Orchestrates eight skills phase by phase - clean-architecture, domain-driven-design, system-design, ddia-systems, software-design-philosophy, release-it, pragmatic-programmer, 37signals-way - asking the user questions at every decision point and recording results in the project docs/ folder (ARCHITECTURE.md, RELIABILITY.md, DESIGN-CODE-ARCHITECTURE-PLAN.md) so the journey resumes across sessions. Use when the user wants to design a new app''s architecture, choose boundaries and a domain model before building, decide monolith versus microservices, or says ''how should I structure this app''. If a codebase already exists, use remove-technical-debt (aged) or improve-code-quality (fresh prototype); if the idea is not validated, run create-business or create-app first. For one framework in isolation, invoke that skill directly.

Formulate and audit real strategy using Richard Rumelt''s "Good Strategy Bad Strategy": an honest diagnosis, a guiding policy, and coherent action instead of goals, vision, and wishful thinking. Use when the user mentions "good strategy bad strategy", "strategy kernel", "diagnosis guiding policy coherent action", "our strategy is just goals", "strategic planning", "mission vs strategy", "review my strategy", or "annual plan". Also trigger when auditing strategy docs or pitch decks for fluff, turning goal lists into real strategy, formulating strategy for a product or company, or identifying leverage and proximate objectives. Covers the kernel of strategy, bad-strategy detection, and sources of power. For product positioning, see obviously-awesome. For creating uncontested markets, see blue-ocean-strategy.

Guided journey from an app people sign up for and then quietly abandon to a sealed retention engine with a habit loop, an activated first run, and one metric the whole team trusts. Orchestrates eight skills phase by phase - hooked-ux, improve-retention, continuous-discovery, lean-ux, inspired-product, lean-analytics, microinteractions, drive-motivation - asking the user questions at every decision point and recording results in the project docs/ folder (PRODUCT.md, METRICS.md, GROW-APP-PLAN.md) so the journey resumes across sessions. Use when the user wants to lift activation and retention, design a habit loop, fix a leaky onboarding funnel, or says ''users sign up then disappear''. Do not use to fix broken UX or performance that no engagement mechanic can paper over - run improve-app first; if there is no app yet, use create-app. For one framework in isolation, invoke that skill directly.

Guided journey from a business with lucky months to a repeatable growth engine that produces a forecast. Orchestrates nine skills phase by phase - one-page-marketing, hundred-million-offers, predictable-revenue, contagious, influence-psychology, crossing-the-chasm, cold-start-problem, lean-analytics, negotiation - asking the user questions at every decision point and recording results in the project docs/ folder (MARKETING.md, OFFER.md, METRICS.md, GROW-BUSINESS-PLAN.md) so the journey resumes across sessions. Use when the user wants to build a marketing and sales system, manufacture predictable pipeline, engineer word-of-mouth and referrals, or says ''revenue is real but lumpy and I need growth that repeats''. If the offer, retention, or operations underneath are broken, run improve-business first; with no paying customers yet, start with create-business; when the product itself must carry the growth loops, use grow-app. For one framework in isolation, invoke that skill directly.

Guided journey from a website with traffic it under-converts to a research-driven growth engine that captures more leads, persuades more buyers, sells a sharper offer, and earns referrals. Orchestrates eight skills phase by phase - cro-methodology, scorecard-marketing, storybrand-messaging, made-to-stick, influence-psychology, hundred-million-offers, contagious, one-page-marketing - asking the user questions at every decision point and recording results in the project docs/ folder (WEBSITE.md, OFFER.md, MARKETING.md, GROW-WEBSITE-PLAN.md) so the journey resumes across sessions. Use when the user wants to raise conversion on a site that already has traffic, capture more leads, sharpen a weak offer, add referral loops, or says ''my site gets visitors but nobody buys''. If a broken funnel or usability friction is the real blocker, run improve-website first; if there is no site yet, use create-website. For one framework in isolation, invoke that skill directly.

Guided journey from a shipped app that works but feels rough to a product that fits the job, flows without friction, reads clearly, and persuades honestly. Orchestrates nine skills phase by phase - jobs-to-be-done, ux-heuristics, design-everyday-things, refactoring-ui, microinteractions, made-to-stick, influence-psychology, high-perf-browser, steve-jobs-design-review - asking the user questions at every decision point and recording results in the project docs/ folder (CUSTOMER.md, DESIGN.md, POSITIONING.md, IMPROVE-APP-PLAN.md) so the journey resumes across sessions. Use when the user wants to fix a clunky product, cut UX friction, sharpen in-app copy and prompts, or says ''the app works but feels rough''. Do not use for code, tests, or production hardening - use improve-code-quality (fresh prototype) or remove-technical-debt (aged codebase); no app yet, create-app; needs growth loops, grow-app; marketing-site friction, improve-website. For one framework in isolation, invoke that skill directly.

Guided journey from a stalled, plateaued business to one with an honest diagnosis, a working operating rhythm, and offers repriced to real value. Orchestrates eight skills phase by phase - good-strategy-bad-strategy, traction-eos, high-output-management, team-topologies, drive-motivation, lean-analytics, negotiation, monetizing-innovation - asking the user questions at every decision point and recording results in the project docs/ folder (STRATEGY.md, OPERATIONS.md, METRICS.md, IMPROVE-BUSINESS-PLAN.md) so the journey resumes across sessions. Use when the user wants to fix a business that has plateaued, diagnose why growth stalled, tighten strategy and execution, re-motivate a team, or says ''revenue is flat and I do not know why''. Starting from scratch with no customers: use create-business. Once the fundamentals work and the goal is expansion: use grow-business. When the product itself drags the business down: use improve-app. For one framework in isolation, invoke that skill directly.

Guided journey from a working-but-untested vibe-coded prototype to a production-ready product with tests, clean structure, a business-rules boundary, and resilience at scale. Orchestrates nine skills phase by phase - working-with-legacy-code, clean-code, refactoring-patterns, software-design-philosophy, clean-architecture, pragmatic-programmer, release-it, system-design, ddia-systems - asking the user questions at every decision point and recording results in the project docs/ folder (TESTING.md, TECH-DEBT.md, RELIABILITY.md, IMPROVE-CODE-QUALITY-PLAN.md) so the journey resumes across sessions. Use when the user wants to harden an AI-generated prototype, add tests before refactoring, make code safe to change, or says ''this works on my machine but I am scared to touch it''. For a large aged codebase, use remove-technical-debt; to decide structure before building, use design-code-architecture; for a product and UX pass, use improve-app. For one framework in isolation, invoke that skill directly.

Guided journey from a live website that underperforms to a prioritized, evidence-backed backlog of conversion, usability, message, and speed fixes - each shipped as a testable experiment. Orchestrates eight skills phase by phase - cro-methodology, ux-heuristics, refactoring-ui, web-typography, storybrand-messaging, high-perf-browser, made-to-stick, design-everyday-things - asking the user questions at every decision point and recording results in the project docs/ folder (WEBSITE.md, DESIGN.md, EXPERIMENTS.md, IMPROVE-WEBSITE-PLAN.md) so the journey resumes across sessions. Use when the user wants to fix a landing page that isn''t converting, diagnose why visitors leave, audit for clarity and usability, or says ''the homepage feels off but a redesign didn''t help''. Do not use with no site yet - use create-website; if it converts but needs more traffic or leads, grow-website; if the friction is in a product app, not the marketing site, improve-app. For one framework in isolation, invoke that skill directly.

Choose and audit startup metrics using Alistair Croll and Benjamin Yoskovitz''s "Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster". Use when the user mentions "what metrics should we track", "KPIs", "north star metric", "One Metric That Matters", "OMTM", "vanity metrics", "analytics dashboard", "DAU/MAU", "churn benchmark", or "measure product-market fit". Also trigger when choosing metrics for a startup or feature, auditing dashboards for vanity metrics, setting metric targets and baselines, or instrumenting a product by business model and stage. Covers good-vs-vanity metrics, the One Metric That Matters, metrics by business model, the five startup stages, and benchmarks with lines in the sand. For the build-measure-learn loop itself, see lean-startup. For fixing activation and retention, see improve-retention.

Guided journey from a large aged codebase everyone fears to touch to one that is safe to change, legible, bounded, and resilient - paid down in place without a rewrite. Orchestrates eight skills phase by phase - working-with-legacy-code, refactoring-patterns, clean-code, software-design-philosophy, clean-architecture, pragmatic-programmer, release-it, domain-driven-design - asking the user questions at every decision point and recording results in the project docs/ folder (TESTING.md, TECH-DEBT.md, REMOVE-TECHNICAL-DEBT-PLAN.md) so the journey resumes across sessions. Use when the user wants to tame a legacy codebase, pay down technical debt safely, avoid a big-bang rewrite, or says ''we are afraid to touch this code''. For a fresh prototype or vibe-coded app going to production, use improve-code-quality; for greenfield structure, use design-code-architecture; for a product-and-UX pass rather than code-only, use improve-app. For one framework in isolation, invoke that skill directly.

Build lean, opinionated products using the 37signals philosophy from Getting Real, Rework, and Shape Up. Use when the user mentions "Getting Real", "Rework", "Shape Up", "37signals", "Basecamp method", "six-week cycles", "fixed time variable scope", "appetite vs estimates", "betting table", "breadboarding", "fat marker sketch", "build less", "underdo the competition", or "opinionated software". Also trigger when cutting scope to ship faster, running small teams, avoiding long-term roadmaps, or eliminating meetings. Covers shaping, betting, building, and the art of saying no. For MVP validation, see lean-startup. For design sprints, see design-sprint.

Review designs, products, and features with Steve Jobs'' standards: ruthless simplicity, focus, and end-to-end excellence. Use when the user mentions "Steve Jobs review", "design review", "product review", "what would Steve do", "insanely great", "simplify this product", "too many features", "product taste", or "saying no". Also trigger when critiquing a UI, feature, or roadmap for focus and simplicity, when cutting scope to the essential, or when pressure-testing the complete experience from first run to daily use. Covers the simplicity audit, the no list, design-is-how-it-works, end-to-end experience ownership, demo culture, and a Jobs-style review protocol with binary verdicts. For visual design fundamentals, see refactoring-ui. For usability audits, see ux-heuristics. For detail polish, see microinteractions.

Organize business and technology teams for fast flow using Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais''s "Team Topologies". Use when the user mentions "team topologies", "Conway''s law", "platform team", "stream-aligned team", "team boundaries", "cognitive load", "how should we split teams", "org design", "who owns this service", or "team dependencies". Also trigger when reorganizing engineering teams, aligning team and service boundaries, splitting a monolith and deciding team ownership, reducing cross-team dependencies and handoffs, or designing an internal platform. Covers the four team types, three interaction modes, the inverse Conway maneuver, and fracture planes. For bounded contexts and domain boundaries, see domain-driven-design. For dependency direction inside a codebase, see clean-architecture.

Safely change and test untested codebases using Michael C. Feathers'' "Working Effectively with Legacy Code". Use when the user mentions "legacy code", "no tests", "untested codebase", "how do I test this", "seams", "characterization tests", "sprout method", "afraid to change this code", "monster method", or "dependency breaking". Also trigger when modifying code without tests safely, getting a class under test when constructors, statics, or singletons block it, adding features to tangled modules, or planning incremental test coverage for an old codebase. Covers the legacy code change algorithm, seams, characterization tests, sprout/wrap, and dependency-breaking techniques. For refactoring code that already has tests, see refactoring-patterns. For day-to-day code quality, see clean-code.