Evaluate product/app ideas before and after MVP using north-star one-pagers, core-tech leverage, defining constraints, success criteria, opportunity mapping, RICE, and growth horizons. Use when deciding whether to build, continue, pivot, prioritize post-MVP work, define product success, or avoid feature-factory drift. Keywords: build or not, MVP, product idea, north star, product strategy, RICE, opportunity tree, roadmap, post-MVP, pivot, success criteria, narrative, one-pager, working backwards.
Product Strategy
Use product strategy when the question is whether a product/app should exist, continue, pivot, or prioritize one path over another. Product goals must be honest, falsifiable, and dated; if the user mainly needs general life/project direction, use goal-setting instead.
Routing
Pre-build or unsure whether to build?
→ MANDATORY READreferences/build-or-not.md. Three gates: one-page north star, separable core tech, defining constraint.
MVP shipped and too many next paths compete?
→ MANDATORY READreferences/post-mvp-crossroads.md. Sequence: Opportunity Solution Tree → RICE → Three Horizons.
Ambiguous product success criteria?
→ Start with references/build-or-not.md Gate 1. If the issue is broader than product/app success, switch to goal-setting.
Boundary
Product strategy asks: “Should this product/app exist, continue, pivot, or prioritize X?”
Goal-setting asks: “What am I trying to make true, and how would I know?”
Do not force a personal, research, or learning project into product language unless the user is actually making a product.
NEVER
NEVER score or roadmap features before success criteria exist.Instead: define the north star, measurable success, and dated review milestone first.
Why: prioritization without a goal optimizes for loudness, recency, or excitement.
NEVER let post-MVP planning become a feature factory.Instead: map opportunities and user problems before solutions.
Why: scoring features directly can produce an efficient roadmap for the wrong problems.
NEVER treat product strategy as generic goal coaching.Instead: switch to goal-setting when there is no product/user/market surface.
Why: product frameworks add false structure when the real work is personal direction or exploratory learning.
