Obviously Awesome Positioning

Based on April Dunford's public method. Not affiliated with or endorsed by April Dunford.

When to use

Use this skill when customers get substantial value but prospects struggle to understand why to buy, when teams disagree about differentiation, or when the product's inherited category no longer explains where it wins. It also supports a launch, website rewrite, or sales pitch that needs a sound strategic foundation. Its deliverable is a dated positioning canvas with evidence, a category decision, a brief buyer explanation, and a validation plan. [S2] [S4]

Positioning connects five choices: real alternatives, differentiated capabilities, customer value, customers who care intensely, and market category. Work through those choices before writing messaging. Describe the product available today; keep future strategy and investor vision separate from current buyer claims. [S5] [S7] [S8]

Use supplied customer and product evidence first. Where evidence is missing, produce a provisional canvas and name the questions needed to resolve it. Do not invent interviews, results, competitor limitations, or customer demand. The template and review gates are practical adaptations of the public method, not reproductions of Dunford's proprietary materials.

Procedure

1. Define the assignment and evidence boundary. Record the offering, version, decision to support, current frame, and available wins, losses, interviews, usage, and demonstrations. Distinguish observations from hypotheses and roadmap promises. Follow method: Evidence and scope and open the output template.
2. Suspend the inherited category. Write down how the team currently describes the product and which expectations that description creates. Keep it as a candidate rather than a constraint. Read method: Release the default frame.
3. Identify actual buyer alternatives. Establish what each buyer would do without the offering, including keeping the present workflow. Separate distinct buying situations and exclude rivals absent from actual consideration. Use method: Competitive alternatives.
4. Compare current capabilities. Identify demonstrable differences against each relevant alternative. Include processes, delivery, business model, and useful combinations, not just software features. Avoid judging an unusual attribute too early. Use method: Differentiated capabilities.
5. Diagnose an empty difference list. Check won deals, product understanding, and segment breadth before concluding there is no differentiation. If no distinct buyer value survives scrutiny, report an unresolved offer gap. Use method: When differentiation seems absent.
6. Translate differences into outcomes. Connect each capability to what it enables and why that matters. Group related outcomes into a few value themes, preserving the alternative and evidence behind each. Follow method: Differentiated value.
7. Select customers who care most. Identify observable conditions that make the value important and buyers recognizable. Compare candidate segments using actual wins and commercial viability. Follow method: Best fit customers; consult the illustrations if segmentation remains abstract.
8. Generate and compare market frames. Consider at least two plausible contexts after completing the preceding components. Examine expected features, competitors, buyer, price, and evaluation criteria. Use method: Market frame and the frame comparison in the template.
9. Choose a defensible frame. Explain why it makes the target's differentiated value easier to understand. Account for the cost of educating buyers and the organizational consequences of a category change. Read method: Framing styles and consequences.
10. Write the canvas and buyer explanation. Complete the output template, keeping strategy, proof, uncertainty, and the short external explanation distinct. Trace every major claim through the five components. Use method: Document and translate.
11. Test comprehension and choice. Define questions that could disprove the candidate, gather feedback from suitable buyers and sales, and revise the earliest unsupported component. Follow method: Test and revisit. Mark untested work as provisional.
12. Review and hand off. Apply the pass/fail checklist. Deliver the dated canvas, unresolved gaps, next validation actions, and implications for messaging, demos, and customer support. Cite method claims using the source register; distinguish those citations from evidence about the actual product.

Files in this skill

• references/method.md: Detailed principles, decision rules, warnings, and edge cases for the positioning workflow.
• references/sources.md: Eight fetched public sources and what each contributes.
• examples/worked-examples.md: Two invented illustrations showing weak drafts, improved positioning, and the rules responsible.
• templates/output-template.md: Fill-in positioning canvas with field guidance, evidence mapping, and validation actions.
• checklists/review-checklist.md: Pass/fail review gates and common failure modes with fixes.