Product Definition

Use this skill after project-setup when a new initiative needs a real Stage 1 product-definition pass before business analysis begins.

Compatibility note: this skill is still named project-definition so existing routes and installed runtimes keep working. The Stage 1 concept is Product Definition.

Current Project Context

Existing Product Definition Summary

!cat docs/01-project-definition/project-definition-summary.md 2>/dev/null || echo "No existing product definition summary found — starting fresh."

Existing Project Thesis And Principles

!cat docs/01-project-definition/project-thesis-and-principles.md 2>/dev/null || echo "No existing product thesis and principles found — starting fresh."

Interaction Pattern

1. Identify the target user or audience.
   • Clarify who the initiative is for and what context they are operating in.
   • Distinguish primary users from secondary stakeholders when that matters.
2. Clarify intended value.
   • State what improvement the initiative is trying to create.
   • Keep the emphasis upstream of requirements and design.
3. Define the major task categories in scope.
   • Describe the main categories of work the system should support first.
   • Do not collapse this into implementation detail or requirement language yet.
4. Clarify initial scope intent for the current phase.
   • Make the current slice explicit.
   • Name meaningful deferred areas so ambition does not silently expand.
5. Survey existing tools or solutions.
   • Identify what already exists.
   • For each meaningful candidate, ask whether it fits as-is, partially fits, or is insufficient.
   • Use the result to frame Adopt / Configure / Extend / Build thinking without forcing premature commitment.
6. Capture thesis and guiding principles.
   • State the core belief behind the initiative.
   • Record product, experience, governance, and evaluation principles that should shape later analysis and design.
7. Decide whether the initiative should proceed to analysis.
   • If the gap is weak or the rationale is not yet credible, say so.
   • If proceeding is justified, make that recommendation explicit.
8. Create the roadmap once the strategic goal is settled.
   • Stage 1 is the first moment a strategic goal and intended value exist, which is what a roadmap needs and why it is not scaffolded earlier.
   • Invoke the roadmap skill. It writes docs/ROADMAP.md with the goal and a release table reading not yet planned — an honest state, not neglect.
   • Every project gets one; length scales with the project, the sections do not.
9. Present the Stage 1 artifacts for approval.
   • Do not treat product definition as settled until a human reviews it.
   • Do not move into Stage 2 analysis until the Stage 1 artifacts are approved enough.

Outputs

Produce or update these artifacts as needed:

• docs/01-project-definition/project-definition-summary.md
• docs/01-project-definition/project-thesis-and-principles.md
• docs/ROADMAP.md (via the roadmap skill)

Use the templates in this skill directory when scaffolding or substantially reshaping those artifacts.

Gate

Human approval is required before business analysis begins.