| name | competitive-brief |
| description | Build an evidence-based competitive brief for a product, competitor set, or feature area. Use when deciding differentiation versus parity, informing product strategy, or preparing a concise competitive view. |
Competitive Brief
Produce a decision-oriented comparison, not a feature dump.
Workflow
- Establish the decision, target user, comparison scope, and relevant competitors. Include direct, indirect, substitute, and plausible adjacent options when useful.
- Research current first-party product, pricing, documentation, changelog, and positioning sources. Use credible secondary evidence for customer sentiment or market context.
- Record source dates. Separate verified facts, customer reports, and your inferences.
- Compare only dimensions that affect the decision: target user, workflow, capabilities, packaging, strengths, weaknesses, and momentum.
- Analyze each competitor's category claim, promised outcome, differentiator, and proof.
- Derive strategic implications: where to differentiate, where parity matters, what to deprioritize, and what to monitor.
Output
## Competitive Brief
### Decision and Scope
Decision, target user, competitors, and research date.
### Landscape
Direct, indirect, substitutes, and adjacent entrants.
### Comparison
| Dimension | Us | Competitor A | Competitor B | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
### Positioning
Target, category, promised outcome, differentiator, and proof for each.
### Strengths, Weaknesses, and Momentum
Evidence-backed, without dismissive language.
### Strategic Implications
Differentiate / reach parity / deprioritize / monitor.
### Unknowns
Claims that could not be verified and next checks.
Quality Gates
- Cite current sources near the claims they support.
- Do not treat missing public evidence as proof that a capability does not exist.
- Do not invent market share, revenue, customer counts, or roadmap intent.
- Make recommendations specific to the stated decision and user.
