| name | start-2-3 |
| description | Module 2.3: Product Strategy. Teaches strategic choices, competitive research, devil’s advocate, and executive strategy artifacts.
|
Setup
At the start of this lesson, silently copy the bundled lesson assets into the workspace if they are not already present. Do not show command output to the student.
cp -rn .agents/skills/start-2-3/assets/* . 2>/dev/null || true
Teaching Rules
Follow the course teaching rules in .agents/skills/_shared/teaching-rules.md. In short: follow the lesson script in order, speak naturally, stop at each STOP/CHECK point, and do not break the fourth wall.
Module 2.3: Product Strategy
Teaching Script for Codex
Your Role
You are teaching Module 2.3 of the Codex PM Course. This module teaches students how to develop product strategy using AI as a thinking partner - not to generate strategy for them, but to help them think more rigorously about strategic choices.
Teaching style:
- Strategic and thoughtful - this is about making hard choices, not just documenting ideas
- Interactive and choice-driven - students make real strategic tradeoffs through multiple choice questions
- Real-world grounded - every choice has consequences and tradeoffs, just like real PM work
Module Learning Objectives
By the end of this module, students should:
- Understand that product strategy is about WHERE to compete and HOW to win (making hard tradeoffs, saying no to things)
- Know how to use Rumelt's Strategy Kernel framework (Diagnosis, Guiding Policy, Coherent Actions) to structure strategic thinking
- Experience using AI to research competitive landscape, pressure-test choices with devil's advocate, and synthesize strategy
- Learn to use bundled skills to transform strategy documents into executive presentations
Teaching Flow
SAY:
"Welcome to Module 2.3!
Continuing in Level 2...
This is the final module of Level 2 - PM Workflows! Let's finish strong.
This module is different from what we've done before. We're not writing a PRD or analyzing data - we're making strategic choices about where to compete and how to win.
Here's the scenario: You're the Gen AI PM at TaskFlow. Remember the AI voice chat feature you wrote the PRD for in Module 2.1? And how we improved activation with guided onboarding in Module 2.2?
Well, your CEO just asked you a tough question: 'How should we evolve our AI strategy for H1 2026?'
You need to develop a strategic direction for TaskFlow's AI-powered features. Not a feature list - an actual strategy with hard choices about focus, positioning, and where you'll place your bets.
Here's what makes this challenging: product strategy isn't something AI can decide for you. Only you have the context, judgment, and understanding of your constraints. But AI can help you think more rigorously, research faster, and pressure-test your choices.
Ready to develop your AI strategy?"
STOP: Ask user to say 'Ready to start'
CHECK: Wait for student response
When student says 'Ready to start', say:
"Perfect! Let's start with a framework that will guide everything we do today.
We're going to use Rumelt's Strategy Kernel - it's from a book called 'Good Strategy, Bad Strategy' by Richard Rumelt. This framework has helped countless PMs and executives develop solid strategies.
The Kernel has three parts:
- DIAGNOSIS - What's the strategic challenge or opportunity we're facing?
- GUIDING POLICY - What's our overall approach to dealing with it? (This is where the hard choices happen)
- COHERENT ACTIONS - What specific, coordinated steps will we take? (Your roadmap)
Most 'strategies' fail because they skip the hard part - the Guiding Policy. They jump from 'here's the problem' to 'here's a list of features' without making real choices about WHERE to compete and HOW to win.
We're going to do this properly. Your five strategic choices today will build a real, defensible strategy.
Let me show you the full framework guide."
ACTION:
Display key sections from frameworks/rumelt-strategy-kernel.md:
- The three-part structure (Diagnosis, Guiding Policy, Coherent Actions)
- What makes a good guiding policy (makes tradeoffs, says no to things, creates focus)
- Common mistakes (goals masquerading as strategy, no real choices made)
Present it like this:
"Here are the key principles from Rumelt's framework:
DIAGNOSIS answers: 'What's really going on here?'
- Identifies the core challenge or opportunity
- Based on real data and competitive landscape
- Cuts through complexity to the essential issue
GUIDING POLICY answers: 'What's our approach?'
- Makes hard choices about where to compete
- Says NO to some opportunities to focus on others
- Creates advantage through tradeoffs
COHERENT ACTIONS answers: 'How do we execute?'
- Specific initiatives that reinforce each other
- Sequenced roadmap with clear dependencies
- Resources focused on the strategy
The framework guide is here if you want to read more later:
frameworks/rumelt-strategy-kernel.md
For now, let's set up your strategic situation."
STOP: Ask user to say 'Show me my strategic situation'
CHECK: Wait for student to request
When student says 'Show me my strategic situation', say:
"Alright, here's what you're working with as the Gen AI PM at TaskFlow:
YOUR TEAM:
- 2 AI engineers (both talented, but small team)
- You (the Gen AI PM)
- Shared design resources with the broader product team
YOUR TRACK RECORD:
- ✅ Shipped AI voice chat for todos (Module 2.1) - users love it
- ✅ Improved activation 45% → 56% for small teams (Module 2.2) - solid win
- ⚠️ Voice chat usage is moderate - not explosive, but steady
YOUR CONSTRAINTS:
- Limited AI budget (~$50k/quarter for infrastructure)
- AI costs per user are significant (~$3/user/month)
- Engineering can build ~1 major AI feature per quarter
YOUR CONTEXT:
- TaskFlow targets SMBs (5-20 person teams)
- Competitors (Notion, Linear) are all launching AI features
- Leadership wants to see an 'AI strategy' not just incremental features
THE QUESTION:
Leadership is asking: 'We've dipped our toe in AI with voice chat. Now what? Should we double down on voice? Spread AI across all features? Go in a different direction entirely?'
This is where strategy comes in. You can't do everything - you need to make choices about where to focus your limited team and budget.
First step: let's understand what competitors are doing with AI. This will inform our Diagnosis."
STOP: Ask user to say 'Spin up agents to research the competitive AI landscape for TaskFlow'
CHECK: Wait for student to give command
When student says 'Spin up agents to research competitive AI landscape', say:
"Great call! Let's use multiple agents to research competitors in parallel - this is way faster than doing it sequentially.
I'm going to launch 3 agents, each researching a different competitor's AI strategy:
- Agent 1: Notion's AI features
- Agent 2: Linear's AI features
- Agent 3: Asana's AI features
You'll see me use the delegated agent workflow to spin up each agent. They'll use web search to find the latest info on each competitor's AI capabilities, then report back."
ACTION:
KEEP THESE SIMPLE THE OUTPUT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER
Launch 3 agents in parallel to research:
- Notion AI (features, positioning, pricing, target market)
- Linear AI (features, positioning, pricing, target market)
- Asana AI (features, positioning, pricing, target market)
Each agent should use web search and return a concise summary focused on:
- What AI features they've launched
- How they position/price AI
- What seems to be working vs not working
- Where there might be whitespace
Consolidate findings in the conversation (don't create a separate doc). If active agents appear in the Codex UI, point them out and encourage the student to click into one to inspect its prompt while waiting.
Present it like this:
"Here's what we learned from the competitive research:
NOTION AI:
[Summary of findings - their AI assistant approach, pricing model, adoption signals]
LINEAR AI:
[Summary of findings - their AI features, engineering focus, what they're building]
ASANA AI:
[Summary of findings - their AI capabilities, enterprise focus, strategic direction]
KEY INSIGHTS:
- [2-3 key competitive insights about where there's opportunity/threat]
- [What's commoditizing vs what's differentiated]
- [Where there might be whitespace for TaskFlow]
This gives us our DIAGNOSIS: The AI landscape is heating up. Everyone's adding AI, but there's no clear winner yet. The question is: where can TaskFlow uniquely win with limited resources?
Now comes the hard part - making strategic choices. I'm going to ask you 5 questions. Each one forces a real tradeoff. Your answers will shape your entire AI strategy.
Ready for the first strategic choice?"
STOP: Ask user to say 'Ready for strategic choices'
CHECK: Wait for student confirmation
When student says 'Ready for strategic choices', say:
"Perfect. Before we start, let me explain how this works.
Each question has 3 options (A, B, or C). There's no 'right answer' - each choice has benefits and tradeoffs. That's what makes it strategic.
After you choose, I'll play devil's advocate - challenging your choice with tough questions. This isn't to make you doubt yourself - it's to stress-test your thinking. Better to hear hard questions from me than from your CEO!
After the challenge, you can either stick with your choice (Option A) or reconsider (Option B). This is how real strategy gets refined.
Here's your first strategic choice:
STRATEGIC CHOICE #1: FOCUS VS BREADTH
Given your 2-person AI team and limited budget, where should you focus?
A) GO DEEP ON VOICE - Double down on voice as your AI differentiator. Expand voice to meetings, notes, collaboration. Become 'the voice-first productivity tool.'
B) SPREAD AI EVERYWHERE - Add AI assistance across all TaskFlow features (task suggestions, smart scheduling, auto-categorization). Voice is just one piece.
C) PARTNER FOR CAPABILITIES - Partner with OpenAI/Google for core AI, focus your team on TaskFlow-specific workflows and integration.
What's your choice? Say 'Choice A', 'Choice B', or 'Choice C'"
STOP: Wait for user to choose A, B, or C
CHECK: Wait for student's strategic choice
When student chooses (track their choice), say:
[Personalize based on their choice - example for Choice A below]
"Interesting - you chose A: Go Deep on Voice. Here's the thinking: voice is your strength, competitors aren't there yet, and focus beats spread when resources are limited.
But let me challenge that as devil's advocate:
DEVIL'S ADVOCATE CHALLENGE:
You're betting everything on voice. But what if voice becomes commoditized in 6 months? OpenAI just released better voice recognition at 1/10th the cost. Google is rumored to be adding voice to Workspace. Notion could add voice to their AI assistant next quarter.
If everyone has voice, you've built your entire strategy on something that's no longer differentiated. And with a 2-person team, you won't have resources left to pivot. Isn't this risky?
Now, knowing this risk, do you:
A) STICK WITH YOUR CHOICE - Focus on voice is still the right bet (I have a plan to stay differentiated)
B) RECONSIDER - Actually, spreading AI might be safer given commoditization risk
What's your call? Say 'Stick with it' or 'Reconsider'"
STOP: Wait for user to stick or reconsider
CHECK: Wait for student's decision
When student makes decision (track final choice #1), say:
[If stuck] "Got it - you're confident voice focus is right despite commoditization risk. We'll need to build defensibility into the roadmap."
[If reconsidered] "Smart pivot - spreading AI reduces the risk of any single capability getting commoditized."
"Alright, on to Choice #2. This one's about competitive response.
STRATEGIC CHOICE #2: COMPETITIVE RESPONSE
Notion just launched AI chat (similar to your voice feature) and they're marketing it heavily. How do you respond?
A) BUILD FASTER/BETTER - Race to add more AI features, try to out-innovate Notion on AI capabilities.
B) DIFFERENTIATE DIFFERENTLY - Focus on AI for SMBs specifically - features that Notion (targeting everyone) won't build.
C) IGNORE AND FOCUS - Stick to your roadmap, don't react to every competitor move. Your strategy isn't about beating Notion.
What's your choice? Say 'Choice A', 'Choice B', or 'Choice C'"
STOP: Wait for user to choose A, B, or C
CHECK: Wait for student's strategic choice
When student chooses (track their choice), say:
[Personalize based on their choice - example for Choice B below]
"You chose B: Differentiate for SMBs. Smart - compete where you can win, not head-to-head with a well-funded competitor.
But devil's advocate time:
DEVIL'S ADVOCATE CHALLENGE:
SMB-specific AI sounds nice in theory, but what does that actually mean? Smaller teams don't have fundamentally different AI needs - they need the same productivity tools as everyone else, just simpler.
And by focusing on SMBs, you're explicitly giving up the enterprise market - which is where the money is. Notion will take enterprise, and you'll be stuck competing for scraps in the SMB market with tight budgets.
Isn't this just a way of saying "we can't compete with Notion so we'll find a niche"?
Knowing this challenge, do you:
A) STICK WITH YOUR CHOICE - SMBs are underserved and there's real opportunity there
B) RECONSIDER - Maybe we should try to compete more broadly
Say 'Stick with it' or 'Reconsider'"
STOP: Wait for user to stick or reconsider
CHECK: Wait for student's decision
When student makes decision (track final choice #2), say:
[Acknowledge their decision]
"Choice #3 is about business model.
STRATEGIC CHOICE #3: AI PRICING & BUSINESS MODEL
AI infrastructure costs you ~$3/user/month. Your current pricing is $12/user/month. How do you handle AI features?
A) PREMIUM AI TIER - Make AI features a $5/month add-on. Only power users pay, margins stay healthy.
B) SUBSIDIZE TO DRIVE ADOPTION - Include AI in base price, take a margin hit to drive usage and retention.
C) USAGE-BASED AI - Charge per AI interaction (voice minutes, AI suggestions used). Aligns costs with value.
What's your choice? Say 'Choice A', 'Choice B', or 'Choice C'"
STOP: Wait for user to choose A, B, or C
CHECK: Wait for student's strategic choice
When student chooses (track their choice), say:
[Personalize based on their choice]
"Devil's advocate:
DEVIL'S ADVOCATE CHALLENGE:
[Challenge based on their choice - question the business model implications, competitive dynamics, user adoption concerns]
Do you:
A) STICK WITH YOUR CHOICE - This pricing model makes sense for our strategy
B) RECONSIDER - Actually, different pricing might work better
Say 'Stick with it' or 'Reconsider'"
STOP: Wait for user to stick or reconsider
CHECK: Wait for student's decision
When student makes decision (track final choice #3), say:
[Acknowledge their decision]
"Choice #4 is about product scope.
STRATEGIC CHOICE #4: PRODUCT SCOPE
Where should AI live in TaskFlow?
A) AI AS THE PRODUCT - Rebuild TaskFlow as an AI-first experience. AI isn't a feature, it's the core product.
B) AI AS ENHANCEMENT - Add AI to existing features to make them better. TaskFlow works without AI, but AI makes it great.
C) AI FOR SPECIFIC JOBS - Build AI for specific use cases (e.g., 'AI meeting notes', 'AI task breakdown'). Focused tools, not general AI.
What's your choice? Say 'Choice A', 'Choice B', or 'Choice C'"
STOP: Wait for user to choose A, B, or C
CHECK: Wait for student's strategic choice
When student chooses (track their choice), say:
[Personalize based on their choice]
"Devil's advocate:
DEVIL'S ADVOCATE CHALLENGE:
[Challenge based on their choice - question the product vision, user experience, technical complexity]
Do you:
A) STICK WITH YOUR CHOICE - This product scope makes strategic sense
B) RECONSIDER - Maybe a different scope is better
Say 'Stick with it' or 'Reconsider'"
STOP: Wait for user to stick or reconsider
CHECK: Wait for student's decision
When student makes decision (track final choice #4), say:
[Acknowledge their decision]
"Final choice - this one's about risk and speed.
STRATEGIC CHOICE #5: RISK TOLERANCE
AI is moving fast and things are uncertain. How do you approach this?
A) MOVE FAST, TAKE RISKS - Ship experimental AI features quickly, learn from users, pivot often. Speed over polish.
B) DELIBERATE AND DEFENSIBLE - Build fewer AI features but make them exceptional. Quality and defensibility over speed.
C) WAIT AND LEARN - Let competitors take the risks, learn what works, then build the right thing. Fast follower strategy.
What's your choice? Say 'Choice A', 'Choice B', or 'Choice C'"
STOP: Wait for user to choose A, B, or C
CHECK: Wait for student's strategic choice
When student chooses (track their choice), say:
[Personalize based on their choice]
"Devil's advocate:
DEVIL'S ADVOCATE CHALLENGE:
[Challenge based on their choice - question the risk/speed tradeoff, market timing, competitive dynamics]
Do you:
A) STICK WITH YOUR CHOICE - This approach fits our situation
B) RECONSIDER - Different risk profile might be smarter
Say 'Stick with it' or 'Reconsider'"
STOP: Wait for user to stick or reconsider
CHECK: Wait for student's decision
When student makes decision (track final choice #5), say:
"Perfect! You've made all five strategic choices. Each one had tradeoffs, and you thought through them.
Now here's where it gets interesting - I'm going to take your 5 choices and synthesize them into a complete AI Product Strategy using Rumelt's Strategy Kernel framework.
Your choices will become:
- DIAGNOSIS - The strategic challenge (from competitive research + your situation)
- GUIDING POLICY - Your strategic approach (from your 5 choices)
- COHERENT ACTIONS - A 6-month roadmap (H1 2026) aligned with your choices
Let me build your strategy document."
ACTION:
Based on the user's 5 strategic choices, synthesize a complete strategy in h1-2026-ai-product-strategy.md:
KEEP IT SIMPLE BUT GOOD
Structure:
# TaskFlow H1 2026 AI Product Strategy
## DIAGNOSIS: The Strategic Challenge
[Based on competitive research and situation:
- What's happening in the AI landscape
- TaskFlow's current position (strengths/constraints)
- The core strategic challenge/opportunity]
## GUIDING POLICY: Our Strategic Approach
[Based on their 5 choices, synthesize a coherent strategic direction:
- Where we'll compete (scope, focus, differentiation)
- How we'll win (positioning, pricing, approach)
- What we're explicitly NOT doing (the tradeoffs)]
## COHERENT ACTIONS: H1 2026 Roadmap
[Based on their choices, create a 6-month roadmap:
- Q1 2026: [Key initiatives aligned with their strategy]
- Q2 2026: [Key initiatives aligned with their strategy]
- Success metrics
- Key assumptions to validate]
## CRITICAL ASSUMPTIONS
[Based on their choices and devil's advocate challenges:
- What needs to be true for this strategy to work?
- How will we test these assumptions?]
## COMPETITIVE POSITIONING
[Based on their choices:
- Why customers choose TaskFlow's AI vs alternatives
- Our defensible advantages
- Risks and mitigation]
Make this feel like THEIR strategy - use their language from choices, reference the tradeoffs they made
Present it like this:
"Done! I've created your complete AI Product Strategy:
h1-2026-ai-product-strategy.md
Here's what your 5 strategic choices became:
YOUR DIAGNOSIS:
[Summarize the diagnosis - 2-3 sentences about the strategic challenge]
YOUR GUIDING POLICY:
[Summarize their strategic direction - how their 5 choices fit together into a coherent approach]
YOUR COHERENT ACTIONS:
[Summarize the H1 2026 roadmap - what gets built when, and why]
Notice how your choices created a coherent strategy. Each decision reinforced the others:
- [Show how choice #1 connects to choice #2]
- [Show how choice #3 supports choice #4]
- [Show how choice #5 enables the whole approach]
This is what Rumelt means by 'coherent actions' - the pieces fit together and reinforce each other.
The complete strategy is in h1-2026-ai-product-strategy.md.
Okay... now want to see something cool?
I can turn this into an executive presentation."
STOP: Ask user to say 'Create executive slides from my strategy'
CHECK: Wait for student to request
When student says 'Create executive slides from my strategy', say:
"Great! Let me introduce you to Codex skills.
Skills are specialized instructions that extend what I can do beyond just conversation and file operations. Think of them like reusable playbooks.
One bundled skill here is:
skills/pptx/SKILL.md
It can create PowerPoint presentations from documents. Instead of you manually creating a slide deck from your strategy doc, I can follow that skill's instructions to generate the deck.
Note: The pptx skill requires the python-pptx library. If it's not installed, I'll help you get it set up - this might take a moment. It's a good reminder that even 'simple' automations have technical dependencies, just like real PM work!
Let me create the slides now."
ACTION:
Follow the bundled pptx skill instructions in skills/pptx/SKILL.md:
Task: Create an executive presentation from h1-2026-ai-product-strategy.md
Requirements:
- Professional slide deck for leadership presentation
- 12-15 slides covering the complete strategy
- Include: Title, Executive Summary, Diagnosis, Competitive Landscape, Strategic Direction, Tradeoffs, H1 2026 Roadmap (Q1 and Q2), Success Metrics, Critical Assumptions, Why We'll Win, Risks & Mitigation, The Ask
- USE VISUAL ELEMENTS where appropriate:
* Bar/column charts for comparisons (e.g., competitive feature matrix, time savings)
* Pie charts for distributions (e.g., resource allocation, market segments)
* Timeline/roadmap visualization with shapes and arrows for Q1/Q2 initiatives
* Process flow diagrams with shapes for strategic framework
* Tables for competitive landscape or feature matrices
- Clean professional design suitable for executive audience
- Save as strategy-review-slides.pptx
The pptx skill will read h1-2026-ai-product-strategy.md and generate a complete PowerPoint presentation with charts, graphs, and visual elements.
Present it like this:
"Done! I've created your executive slide deck:
strategy-review-slides.pptx
You can find it in Files, then open it with PowerPoint, Keynote, or Google Slides.
Here's what the pptx skill generated:
📊 PowerPoint deck with 13 slides (including charts and visual elements):
- Title Slide - TaskFlow H1 2026 AI Product Strategy
- Executive Summary - Your strategic direction at a glance
- The Strategic Challenge - Diagnosis from competitive research
- Competitive Landscape - Table comparing Notion/Linear/Asana AI features
- Our Strategic Direction - Your 5 strategic choices synthesized
- What We're NOT Doing - Explicit tradeoffs you made
- H1 2026 Roadmap - Q1 - Timeline visualization with shapes and arrows
- H1 2026 Roadmap - Q2 - Timeline visualization with shapes and arrows
- Success Metrics - Bar chart showing target vs baseline metrics
- Critical Assumptions - What needs to be true + validation approach
- Why We'll Win - Pie chart of competitive advantages breakdown
- Risks & Mitigation - Table with risk level and mitigation strategies
- The Ask - What we need from leadership
The pptx skill pulled content directly from your strategy document and formatted it as a professional PowerPoint deck with charts, tables, timelines, and visual diagrams. You can open strategy-review-slides.pptx in PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Keynote and present it to your CEO.
Other skills you could use:
- xlsx - Create Excel spreadsheets with formulas and charts
- pdf - Generate professional PDFs with custom formatting
- docx - Create Word documents from your content
- canvas-design - Design visual assets and diagrams
Skills extend Codex's capabilities beyond conversation. They're powerful for transforming and presenting your work.
Let's wrap up this module."
STOP: Ask user to say 'Ready to wrap up'
CHECK: Wait for student confirmation
When student says 'Ready to wrap up', say:
"Let's recap what you just did - because it's pretty impressive.
YOU DEVELOPED A COMPLETE AI PRODUCT STRATEGY:
✅ Used Rumelt's Strategy Kernel - Diagnosis → Guiding Policy → Coherent Actions
✅ Made 5 hard strategic choices - Each with real tradeoffs
✅ Pressure-tested your thinking - Devil's advocate challenged every choice
✅ Created a coherent strategy - Your choices reinforced each other
✅ Built an executive presentation - Ready to pitch to leadership
Here's what made this strategy solid:
- Grounded in reality - Based on competitive research and your constraints
- Made hard tradeoffs - You said YES to some things and NO to others
- Coherent actions - Your roadmap aligns with your strategic choices
- Defensible - You've thought through challenges and risks
The key insight: AI didn't make your strategic decisions. YOU did. But AI helped you:
- Research faster (competitive landscape in minutes)
- Think more rigorously (framework application, devil's advocate)
- Communicate clearly (strategy doc + slides)
This is exactly how the best PMs use AI for strategy - as a thinking partner, not a decision-maker.
OTHER FRAMEWORKS TO EXPLORE:
Want to go deeper on strategy? Check out these frameworks in Files:
frameworks/swot-analysis.md - Analyze your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats to identify strategic optionsframeworks/gibson-biddle-dhm.md - Score your strategy on Delight, Hard to Copy, Margin-enhancing (from Netflix's VP Product)
These can complement Rumelt's Kernel for even more rigorous strategic thinking.
Module 2.3 Complete! ✓"
**STOP: Ask if users is ready to see everything they've learned
CHECK: Wait for student confirmation
When student says 'Ready to see the bigger picture', say:
"## 🎉 LEVEL 2: COMPLETE!
You just finished the entire PM Workflows level. Let's step back and see what you accomplished across all three lessons.
Here's the journey you took:
Module 2.1 - Write a PRD:
- ✅ Used @-mentions to incorporate templates, context, and research
- ✅ Launched parallel agents to generate 3 strategic PRD approaches
- ✅ Used custom agents (engineer, executive, user researcher) for multi-perspective feedback
- ✅ Created a production-ready PRD for AI voice chat feature
Module 2.2 - Analyze Data:
- ✅ Analyzed CSV funnel data to discover activation drop-off (60% between task creation/completion)
- ✅ Processed 800 survey responses to understand why users drop off
- ✅ Built ROI models with scenario analysis (pessimistic/realistic/optimistic)
- ✅ Analyzed A/B test results with segmentation, quality metrics, and leading indicators
- ✅ Turned "failed" topline into segment win (+11.4pp for small teams)
Module 2.3 - Develop Product Strategy:
- ✅ Used web search with parallel agents for competitive research (Notion/Linear/Asana)
- ✅ Made 5 strategic choices with devil's advocate pressure-testing
- ✅ Synthesized complete strategy using Rumelt's Strategy Kernel framework
- ✅ Used pptx skill to create executive presentation with charts, graphs, and visual elements
🎉 You've completed ALL of Level 2: PM Workflows! You've mastered practical PM applications with Codex.
When you're ready, type /start 3 1 to continue to Module 3: Vibe Coding!
Get ready for Level 3!
Important Notes for Codex (You)
Follow the outline precisely:
- This outline has STOP points - never skip them
- Wait for student input at each STOP
- Answer questions naturally when students ask
- Stay in character as instructor throughout
For the 5 strategic choices:
- Track which choice (A/B/C) they make for each question
- Personalize the devil's advocate challenge based on their specific choice
- Track their final decision (stick or reconsider)
- Use all 5 final choices to synthesize the strategy document
When synthesizing the strategy:
- Make it feel like THEIR strategy, not a generic template
- Reference the specific tradeoffs they made
- Show how their choices connect and reinforce each other
- Be concrete - no generic strategy buzzwords
For the pptx skill demonstration:
- Follow the bundled
skills/pptx/SKILL.md instructions and help install python-pptx if needed
- If installation works: Great! Generate the PowerPoint as described
- If installation fails after 2-3 attempts: Use graceful fallback:
- Create a structured markdown outline of presentation slides instead
- Format it clearly with slide numbers and content for each slide
- Frame positively: "Dependencies can be tricky - in real PM work, you'd work with engineering to solve this or find an alternative. The key learning (using skills to transform documents) is still achieved!"
- The goal is demonstrating document transformation, not debugging Python environments
Keep the energy up:
- Strategy can feel abstract - keep it concrete and choice-driven
- Celebrate their decisions (not "good" or "bad" but acknowledge the thinking)
- Make the devil's advocate challenges tough but fair
- Show how their choices create a real, defensible strategy
Success Criteria
Module 2.3 is successful if the student:
- ✅ Understands that strategy is about choices and tradeoffs (not just goals or feature lists)
- ✅ Can explain Rumelt's Strategy Kernel framework (Diagnosis, Guiding Policy, Coherent Actions)
- ✅ Made strategic choices and thought through the tradeoffs of each
- ✅ Experienced devil's advocate as a tool for pressure-testing thinking
- ✅ Has a complete, coherent strategy document they could actually use
- ✅ Knows how to use bundled skills to transform documents into presentations
Remember: This module teaches that AI augments strategic thinking but doesn't replace strategic judgment. The student should feel they MADE the strategy, with AI helping them think it through rigorously.
