strategic-frameworks

name	strategic-frameworks
description	PM strategy frameworks — Lean Canvas, BMC, OST, Pre-Mortem, North Star, PESTLE, Ansoff, Porter's Five Forces, Assumption Mapping — for discovery, validation, competitive analysis, growth strategy, and risk review
allowed-tools	Read, Write, AskUserQuestion

Strategic Frameworks — Domain Knowledge

Loaded into agents via skills: strategic-frameworks. Provides domain expertise for PM strategy facilitation — not execution logic. Agents read workflow files in workflows/ for step-by-step processes.

Overview

Seven battle-tested PM frameworks for product strategy, validation, and risk. Each framework maps to a specific lifecycle moment. Use the right tool at the right phase.

Frameworks

Lean Canvas

One-page business model. 9 sections covering problem, solution, UVP, unfair advantage, customer segments, channels, revenue, costs, and metrics.

Use when: validating a new product idea before committing to a PRD. Best in Phase 1 Discovery.

Workflow: skills/strategic-frameworks/workflows/lean-canvas.md Schema: skills/strategic-frameworks/workflows/lean-canvas.yaml

Opportunity Solution Tree (OST)

4-level tree: desired outcome → opportunities (customer needs) → solutions → experiments. Forces outcome-first thinking over solution-first.

Use when: stuck on what to build next, or when the team is jumping to solutions without validating needs. Best in Phase 1-2.

Opportunity scoring: Importance × (1 − Satisfaction). Higher score = better opportunity.

Workflow: skills/strategic-frameworks/workflows/opportunity-solution-tree.md Structure: skills/strategic-frameworks/workflows/opportunity-solution-tree.dot

Pre-Mortem

Imagine the product launched and failed. Work backward to identify risks before they happen. Produces tigers (real risks), paper tigers (overstated fears), and elephants (unspoken assumptions).

Use when: pre-launch risk review, sprint planning, stakeholder alignment. Best before Phase 3 Sprint.

Workflow: skills/strategic-frameworks/workflows/pre-mortem.md Schema: skills/strategic-frameworks/workflows/pre-mortem.yaml

North Star Metric

Single metric that best captures the value your product delivers to customers. Paired with 3-5 input metrics owned by teams.

Use when: aligning product and business on what to optimize. Three business game types: Attention, Transaction, Productivity.

Workflow: skills/strategic-frameworks/workflows/north-star-metric.md Schema: skills/strategic-frameworks/workflows/north-star-metric.yaml

PESTLE Analysis

Macro-environment scan across 6 dimensions: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental. Each dimension assessed for impact × probability.

Use when: launching in a new market, regulated space, or when external factors are high-risk. Best in Phase 1 Discovery.

Workflow: skills/strategic-frameworks/workflows/pestle-analysis.md Schema: skills/strategic-frameworks/workflows/pestle-analysis.yaml

Ansoff Matrix

4-quadrant growth strategy tool: Market Penetration, Market Development, Product Development, Diversification. Maps product × market combinations against risk.

Use when: defining growth strategy or evaluating expansion options. Best in strategic planning sessions.

Workflow: skills/strategic-frameworks/workflows/ansoff-matrix.md Schema: skills/strategic-frameworks/workflows/ansoff-matrix.yaml

Porter's Five Forces

Competitive analysis across 5 forces: competitive rivalry, supplier power, buyer power, threat of substitutes, threat of new entrants. Produces an overall industry attractiveness score.

Use when: entering a new market, assessing competitive moat, or before a major product pivot.

Workflow: skills/strategic-frameworks/workflows/porters-five-forces.md Schema: skills/strategic-frameworks/workflows/porters-five-forces.yaml

Business Model Canvas (BMC)

9-block model: Customer Segments, Value Propositions, Channels, Customer Relationships, Revenue Streams, Key Resources, Key Activities, Key Partnerships, Cost Structure. More comprehensive than Lean Canvas — covers operational and partner layers.

Use when: Lean Canvas is too narrow — validating an established or scaling business model, multi-sided platforms, or when partnerships and key activities are load-bearing. Best in Phase 1 Discovery for products beyond earliest ideation.

Workflow: skills/strategic-frameworks/workflows/business-model-canvas.md Schema: skills/strategic-frameworks/workflows/business-model-canvas.yaml

Assumption Mapping × Impact/Risk

Surfaces every assumption the plan relies on, scores each by Impact (1–5) and Evidence (1–5), computes Risk Score = Impact × (5 − Evidence), and classifies into Leap of Faith / Watch / Validated / Low Stakes. Produces prioritized validation actions for the riskiest assumptions.

Use when: CONTEXT.md or PLAN.md contains 2+ mentions of "assumption," "hypothesis," or "we think" — or before any high-stakes commit (PLAN.md, GTM launch, major architecture decision). Triggered deterministically at Phase 2 [Plan] by .claude/rules/pm-frameworks.md.

Workflow: skills/strategic-frameworks/workflows/assumption-mapping.md Schema: skills/strategic-frameworks/workflows/assumption-mapping.yaml

Framework Selection Guide

Situation	Best Framework
New idea, validate business model	Lean Canvas
Established or scaling model, multi-sided platform	Business Model Canvas
Stuck on what to build	Opportunity Solution Tree
Pre-launch risk review	Pre-Mortem
Team misaligned on success	North Star Metric
New market or regulated space	PESTLE Analysis
Growth strategy choices	Ansoff Matrix
Competitive positioning	Porter's Five Forces
Plan has unvalidated assumptions	Assumption Mapping

Output

All frameworks write to .strategic-frameworks/{name}-{date}.yaml and append a Working Notes row to .prd/PRD-STATE.md. Field schemas defined in skills/strategic-frameworks/output-schemas.yaml.

Common Rationalizations

Rationalization	Reality
"The idea is obvious, skip the canvas"	Lean Canvas takes 15 minutes. A wrong pivot takes 3 months.
"We know the risks"	Pre-Mortem surfaces elephants — things the team knows but won't say. You can't self-report your own blind spots.
"North Star is just a vanity metric exercise"	NSM forces explicit choice between attention, transaction, and productivity games. Without it, teams optimize different things.
"Porter's is too academic"	It's a structured way to surface buyer/supplier leverage before you're locked into contracts. 20 minutes now saves months of negotiation.
"We don't need all dimensions in PESTLE"	Skip a dimension and it becomes the one that bites you at launch. Run all 6.

Verification

• Framework selected matches the lifecycle phase and situation
• Output written to .strategic-frameworks/{name}-{date}.yaml
• Working Notes row appended to .prd/PRD-STATE.md
• CONTEXT.md section patched per output-schemas.yaml if in Phase 1
• All AskUserQuestion calls used for user decisions — no plain text questions