| name | product-council-review |
| description | Run the product council review loop on an opportunity or JTBD spec. Spawns all 7 product reviewers (Opportunist, Advocate, Economist, Skeptic, Narrator, Copywriter, Channel Scout) in parallel, collects verdicts. The CPO (see agents/product-council/cpo.md) synthesizes and breaks ties. Repeats until all approve or the CPO calls it. Use when evaluating opportunities, reviewing JTBD specs, or conducting outcome reviews. |
Product Council Review Loop
Spawns all seven product council members, collects verdicts, revises based on feedback, repeats until consensus or the CPO calls it. Uses Ralph Wiggum for iteration control — write .ralph/<name>.md before calling ralph_start.
See agents/product-council/cpo.md for the CPO's persona and authority, agents/cpo/AGENTS.md for the CPO's workflow, and persona files in agents/product-council/.
Workflow
0. Determine review type
Three review types, all use the same 5-member parallel spawn:
| Type | Verdicts | Trigger |
|---|
| Opportunity Evaluation | PURSUE / PASS / NEEDS_EVIDENCE | New opportunity brief |
| Spec Review | APPROVE / REQUEST_CHANGES | JTBD spec ready for review |
| Outcome Review | SUCCEEDED / PARTIAL / MISSED | Feature shipped, metrics available |
1. Spawn reviewers
Use subagent with parallel tasks array — one per reviewer.
Spawn template:
Read agents/product-council/<member>.md and PRINCIPLES.md.
You are <Role Name>.
<Review type>: <Brief / Spec / Outcome Report>
You must:
- Evaluate strictly through the lens of your assigned focus
- Post your verdict: <appropriate verdicts for review type>
- Be direct. No praise. No sugarcoating. Find what's weak.
- If requesting changes, be specific: what's missing, what's wrong, and why.
All eight always run: CPO, Opportunist, Advocate, Economist, Skeptic, Narrator, Copywriter, and Channel Scout. The CPO participates in every round as both a reviewer and the authority — they evaluate alongside the others and then synthesize the results. This mirrors how the Architect operates on the Engineering Council.
2. Collect verdicts
Gather verdicts from all seven members for Round N.
3. Synthesize or iterate
- All positive verdicts → Done (move to next phase)
- CPO says "proceed" → Done (CPO has final authority)
- Negative verdicts → Revise based on feedback, re-spawn all seven for Round N+1
4. Feasibility bridge (Spec Review only)
After the Product Council approves a JTBD spec:
- Send to The Architect for a Feasibility Report
- Populate the RICE Score and Feasibility Summary sections
- Re-spawn the Product Council for a final review with the complete spec
- CPO decides: commit, descope, or kill
5. Escalation
If round 3+, add to the CPO's synthesis: "This is round 3+. If remaining objections are preference not substance, call it."
When to Include Copywriter and Channel Scout
The Copywriter and Channel Scout run on all opportunity evaluations and spec reviews — they need to know what's being built to prepare copy and channels. However, their verdicts carry specific weight:
- The Copywriter flags if the story can be told clearly. If the positioning is muddled, if the value prop can't be explained in one sentence, if the feature can't be marketed — that's a blocker. They escalate to the Narrator for story-level changes.
- The Channel Scout flags if there's a reachable audience. If we can't identify where the buyers are, if the channel strategy is spray-and-pray, if distribution requires unsustainable effort — that's a signal to reconsider the opportunity.
Both members participate in all rounds, but their objections are often upstream of the feature itself. A feature that can't be explained (Copywriter) or can't be distributed (Channel Scout) might need repositioning (Narrator) or market re-validation (Opportunist), not just revision.
Rules
- Always re-spawn all seven reviewers each round
- The CPO can override remaining objections with clear reasoning
- Feasibility input from The Architect is required before final commitment
- RICE scoring is not complete without the Ease factor from engineering
- The Product Council does NOT review code — that's the Engineering Council's job
