Product Operations Skill – Quick Reference

This skill turns Claude into an operator, not a lecturer.

Everything here is:

• Executable: templates, checklists, decision flows
• Decision-first: measurable outcomes, explicit trade-offs, clear ownership
• Organized: resources for depth; templates for immediate copy-paste

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Modern Best Practices (Dec 2025):

• Evidence quality beats confidence: label signals strong/medium/weak; write what would change your mind.
• Outcomes > output: roadmaps are bets with measurable impact and guardrails, not feature inventories.
• Metrics must be defined (formula + timeframe + data source) to be actionable.
• Privacy, security, and accessibility are requirements, not afterthoughts.
• Optional: AI / Automation is allowed only when explicitly requested and policy-compliant.

When to Use This Skill

Claude should invoke this skill when the user asks to do real product work, such as:

• “Create / refine a PRD / spec / business case / 1-pager”
• “Turn this idea into a roadmap” / “Outcome roadmap for X”
• “Design a discovery plan / interview script / experiment plan”
• “Define success metrics / OKRs / metric tree”
• “Position this product against competitors”
• “Run a difficult conversation / feedback / 1:1 / negotiation”
• “Plan a product strategy / vision / opportunity assessment”

Claude should NOT use this skill for:

• Book summaries, philosophy, or general education
• Long case studies or storytelling

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Quick Reference

Task	Template	Domain	Output
Discovery interview	customer-interview-template.md	Discovery	Interview script with Mom Test patterns
Opportunity mapping	opportunity-solution-tree.md	Discovery	OST with outcomes, problems, solutions
Outcome roadmap	outcome-roadmap.md	Roadmap	Now/Next/Later with outcomes and themes
OKR definition	okr-template.md	Metrics	1-3 objectives with 2-4 key results each
Product positioning	positioning-template.md	Strategy	Competitive alternatives → value → segment
Product vision	product-vision-template.md	Strategy	From→To narrative with 3-5 year horizon
1:1 meeting	1-1-template.md	Leadership	Check-in, progress, blockers, growth
Post-incident debrief	a3-debrief.md	Leadership	Intent vs actual, root cause, action items

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Decision Tree: Choosing the Right Workflow

User needs: [Product Work Type]
    ├─ Discovery / Validation?
    │   ├─ Customer insights? → Customer interview template
    │   ├─ Hypothesis testing? → Assumption test template
    │   └─ Opportunity mapping? → Opportunity Solution Tree
    │
    ├─ Strategy / Vision?
    │   ├─ Long-term direction? → Product vision template
    │   ├─ Market positioning? → Positioning template (Dunford)
    │   ├─ Big opportunity? → Opportunity assessment
    │   └─ Amazon-style spec? → PR/FAQ template
    │
    ├─ Planning / Roadmap?
    │   ├─ Outcome-driven? → Outcome roadmap (Now/Next/Later)
    │   ├─ Theme-based? → Theme roadmap
    │   └─ Metrics / OKRs? → Metric tree + OKR template
    │
    └─ Leadership / Team Ops?
        ├─ 1:1 meeting? → 1-1 template
        ├─ Giving feedback? → Feedback template (SBI model)
        ├─ Post-incident? → A3 debrief
        └─ Negotiation? → Negotiation one-sheet (Voss)

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Do / Avoid (Dec 2025)

Do

• Start from the decision: what are we deciding, by when, and with what evidence.
• Define metrics precisely (formula + timeframe + data source) and add guardrails.
• Use discovery to de-risk value before building; prioritize by evidence, not opinions.
• Write “match vs ignore” competitive decisions, not feature grids.

Avoid

• Roadmap theater (shipping lists) without outcomes and learning loops.
• Vanity KPIs (raw signups, impressions) without activation/retention definitions.
• “Build-first validation” (shipping MVPs without falsifiable hypotheses).
• Collecting customer data without purpose limitation, retention, and access controls.

What Good Looks Like

• Evidence: 5–10 real user touchpoints or equivalent primary data for material bets.
• Scope: clear non-goals and acceptance criteria that can be tested.
• Learning: post-launch review with metric deltas, guardrail impact, and next decision.

Optional: AI / Automation

Use only when explicitly requested and policy-compliant.

• PRD templates: ../docs-ai-prd/templates/prd/prd-template.md and ../docs-ai-prd/templates/prd/ai-prd-template.md
• AI system lifecycle: templates/ai/ai-lifecycle-template.md
• Agentic workflow docs: templates/ai/agentic-ai-orchestration.md
• AI product patterns: resources/ai-product-patterns.md

Navigation

Resources

• resources/discovery-best-practices.md
• resources/roadmap-patterns.md
• resources/delivery-best-practices.md
• resources/strategy-patterns.md
• resources/positioning-patterns.md
• resources/data-product-best-practices.md
• resources/interviewing-patterns.md
• resources/metrics-best-practices.md
• resources/leadership-decision-frameworks.md
• resources/operational-guide.md
• data/sources.json

Templates

• Discovery: templates/discovery/customer-interview-template.md, templates/discovery/assumption-test-template.md, templates/discovery/opportunity-solution-tree.md
• Strategy/Vision: templates/strategy/product-vision-template.md, templates/strategy/opportunity-assessment.md, templates/strategy/positioning-template.md, templates/strategy/PRFAQ-template.md
• Data: templates/data/data-product-canvas.md
• Roadmaps: templates/roadmap/outcome-roadmap.md, templates/roadmap/theme-roadmap.md
• Metrics: templates/metrics/metric-tree.md, templates/metrics/okr-template.md
• Ops/Leadership: templates/ops/1-1-template.md, templates/ops/feedback-template.md, templates/ops/a3-debrief.md, templates/ops/negotiation-one-sheet.md

Related Skills

• ../docs-ai-prd/SKILL.md — PRD, stories, and prompt/playbook templates
• ../software-architecture-design/SKILL.md — System design guidance for specs and PRDs
• ../software-frontend/SKILL.md — UI implementation considerations for product specs
• ../software-backend/SKILL.md — Backend/API implications of product decisions

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Operational Guide

See resources/operational-guide.md for detailed patterns, template walkthroughs, example flows, and execution checklists. Keep SKILL.md as the navigation hub; use templates/ when producing artifacts.

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External Resources

See data/sources.json for official frameworks (Lean Startup, OST, PR/FAQ, OKRs) and AI/LLM safety references.

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Use the quick reference and decision tree above to choose a template, then follow the operational guide for depth.