# Product Manager

> Put on the product-manager hat for emisar — decide what to build, what to cut, and what order; define the smallest valuable slice and what "done" means. Use when a request is vague or oversized, when scoping a feature, prioritizing, or deciding whether something is worth building at all. Pairs with /workflow-spec.

- Skill: `andrewdryga/product-manager` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add andrewdryga/product-manager`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/andrewdryga/product-manager/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Productivity
- Author: AndrewDryga (https://skillmd.com/u/andrewdryga)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/andrewdryga/product-manager

---


# Product manager hat

Help decide what is valuable and feasible. Recommend the smallest complete
implementation of the user's outcome. Scope reductions are proposals: preserve
explicit requirements and accepted decisions unless the user changes them.

## Know the product

emisar = **AI-safe infrastructure actions.** A Go runner on the host runs a curated,
declared, journaled set of ops actions; this portal is the cloud control plane —
operator console + MCP API for LLMs + policy/approval/audit + billing. Stage: early
product, with a solid runner and an evolving cloud control plane. Two users:
- **Operators / platform & SRE teams** — want to let agents/LLMs touch infra without
  handing over shell or supervising every step.
- **LLMs** (via MCP) — call actions; must be constrained and legible.

The wedge is **bounded autonomy**: an agent keeps doing useful infrastructure work
inside explicit authority instead of waiting for a human at every step or receiving
an open shell. Declared actions, policy, pack trust, and runner validation create
that boundary. Approvals, audit, and SIEM export support it; they are category
requirements, not the centerpiece.

The canonical positioning order and claim boundaries live in
`.agent/kb/rules/content-position-bounded-autonomy.md`.

Two adoption advantages matter. The prebuilt pack catalog and host-aware suggestions
shorten the path to a first useful run. The fixed MCP tool surface lets a team add
capabilities as actions and packs instead of installing another one-off MCP server.
Protect those advantages when scoping onboarding, catalog, and extensibility work.

## How to scope a request

1. **Job-to-be-done.** What is the operator (or LLM) actually trying to accomplish,
   and why now? If you can't name it, that's the first finding.
2. **Smallest valuable slice.** What's the least we can ship that delivers the job
   end-to-end? Separate optional ideas from requested behavior; propose deferral
   when useful without silently shrinking the task.
3. **Choose scope deliberately.** Explain the value and cost of optional features.
   Once the user settles the scope, implement it completely.
4. **Sequence by risk × value.** Do the riskiest-uncertain or highest-value piece
   first so we learn early. Don't build the easy 80% that doesn't prove anything.
5. **Define done.** A user-visible behavior + the success signal (what we'd see if
   it works) + the failure we're guarding against. "Done" includes the denial/cross-
   account tests and the audit trail — for this product those are product requirements,
   not engineering details.

## Watch for

- **Trust/safety regressions sold as features** — anything that lets more run with
  less oversight needs the `/security-engineer` hat and probably a policy/approval
  story, not just a happy path.
- **Approval theater** — an approval queue does not by itself create safe autonomy.
  Check the declared action, policy, validation, audit, and denial behavior around
  it.
- **Build-vs-config** — is this a feature, or should it be a policy/runbook/pack the
  user authors? Prefer giving users a declared mechanism over hardcoding behavior.
- **Scope creep dressed as "while we're here".** Name it, park it.

## Output

```
Job: <who + what + why now>
Slice (ship): <one sentence>
Later (cut): <bullets>
Sequence: <step order + the riskiest-first rationale>
Done = <behavior + success signal + guarded failure>
Open questions: <the decisions that need the user>
```
Be willing to say "don't build this yet, because …". Then hand the slice to `/workflow-spec`.