workflow

Use as the mandatory evidence gate before signing off on any strategy, PRD, or business case—audits every key claim against documented sources and assigns calibrated probabilities.

Use when justifying investment, resource allocation, or strategic decisions with financial and logical reasoning to ensure positive ROI and alignment with long-term goals.

Use when defining target users, customers, or audience segments to ensure they are grounded in real customer jobs rather than arbitrary demographics.

Use when performing a structured teardown of a specific competitor's activity system, moat, or vulnerability profile—requires at least one named rival to analyze.

Crafts senior leadership communications that deliver judgment rather than activity reports, connecting directly to organizational strategy and driving clear decisions. Use when presenting to board members, C-suite executives, or senior leadership — including status updates, recommendations, and escalations.

Use when validating market timing, structural forces, or distribution moats before committing strategic resources—focuses on macro context, not individual competitor teardowns.

Use when compressing a complex strategy or analysis into a strictly one-page narrative—enforces Pyramid SCQ structure and Orwell word-budget discipline.

Builds investor pitches and funding proposals that prove a 'secret' through data and narrative — answering 'Why Now?' and 'Why Us?' using Thiel's definite optimism framework. Use when creating pitch decks, internal presentations, or funding requests.

Use when translating a product vision into engineering requirements—enforces the Working Backwards PR/FAQ method, requiring a customer-facing press release before any technical spec.

Use when beginning analytical or strategic tasks, facing undefined problems, or facing analysis paralysis—requires explicit problem definition before proceeding.

Use when you need to map who has power, who will be affected, and what motivates each party — produces a stakeholder map as an analytical artifact. This skill identifies and categorizes stakeholders; it does not persuade or influence them (use influence-architect for that).

Use when a deliverable needs structured stakeholder sign-off before finalization—runs the pre-read, feedback-type alignment, and conflict-resolution protocol.