| name | market-research |
| description | Research market context, competitive landscape, and user needs to inform product decisions. Use when the user says 'research the market', 'analyse competitors', or 'understand user needs'. |
Market Research Workflow
Goal
Gather structured market intelligence to ground product decisions in evidence. Produce a concise market brief covering user segments, competitors, and key differentiation opportunities.
Step 1: Define the Research Scope
Ask:
- What product area or feature are we researching?
- Who is the target user segment? (known, or to be discovered)
- What decision will this research inform? (build / buy / prioritise / pivot)
Step 2: User Segment Analysis
For each target segment:
- Who are they? Job title, goals, frustrations
- What are they trying to achieve? The core job-to-be-done
- What do they use today? Current tools and workarounds
- What would make them switch? Pain threshold and switching triggers
Step 3: Competitive Landscape
Map up to 5 competitors:
| Competitor | Core Value Prop | Strengths | Weaknesses | Pricing Model |
|---|
| ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
Identify:
- Category leader and why they win
- Underserved segments no competitor addresses well
- Features table stakes vs. true differentiators
Step 4: Opportunity Identification
Synthesise findings into 3 prioritised opportunity statements:
"Users in [segment] struggle with [pain] but current solutions fail because [gap]. A solution that [capability] could win here."
Step 5: Output
Save research brief to {docsPath}/analysis/market-research-{slug}.md with:
- Executive summary (3–5 bullet points)
- User segments table
- Competitive landscape table
- Top 3 opportunities
- Recommended next step (e.g. user interviews, prototype, PRD spike)
