# Product Layer

> Product Layer

- Skill: `btn101/product-layer` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add btn101/product-layer`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/btn101/product-layer/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: BTN101 (https://skillmd.com/u/btn101)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/btn101/product-layer

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# Product Layer

This group covers the full product thinking stack: from raw idea validation through discovery, prioritization, spec writing, and retention design. When activated, identify the right sub-skill and follow its workflow.

## Skill Map

### Idea Validation (Start Here for Any New Feature or Pivot)
- **product-lens** — founder-style diagnostic. Asks the hard questions: who is this for, what's the pain, why now, what's the MVP, what's the anti-goal, how do you know it's working. Use before building anything new.
- **lean-startup** — Build-Measure-Learn loop, validated learning experiments, pivot-or-persevere decisions, innovation accounting. Use when deciding whether to continue a direction or change it.
- **37signals-way** — build less, fixed time/variable scope, six-week cycles, appetite vs estimates. Use when scoping work or deciding what to cut.

### Customer Discovery
- **mom-test** — interview rules that prevent false positives: discuss their life not your idea, ask about specifics in the past, talk less. Use when preparing customer discovery interview questions or interpreting feedback.
- **discovery-interview-prep** — structured interview plan with goal, segment, constraints, and method. Use when preparing to talk to accounting firms or school admins for Antibody/SchoolOrder.
- **jobs-to-be-done** — uncover functional, emotional, and social jobs customers are hiring the product for. Use when repositioning or improving messaging.

### Prioritization & Roadmap
- **prioritization-advisor** — RICE, ICE, value/effort scoring. Use when choosing between competing features or deciding what to work on next.
- **opportunity-solution-tree** — maps outcomes → opportunities → solutions → experiments. Use when a stakeholder request needs problem framing before building starts.
- **problem-framing-canvas** — MITRE-style problem statement before jumping to solutions. Use when the problem itself feels fuzzy.

### Specs & Documentation
- **prd-development** — PRD that connects problem, users, solution, and success criteria. Use when a feature needs to become an engineering-ready document.
- **to-prd** — turns conversation context into a PRD and pushes it to the issue tracker. Use after a product discussion to capture decisions.
- **to-issues** — breaks a plan or PRD into independently-grabbable issues. Use when turning a spec into actual development tickets.
- **user-story** — Mike Cohn format with Gherkin acceptance criteria. Use when writing development-ready stories.

### Retention & Engagement
- **hooked-ux** — Hook Model: Trigger → Action → Variable Reward → Investment. Use when designing engagement loops, notification strategies, or retention mechanics for SchoolOrder or Antibody.

## How to Use

1. Before building: **product-lens** → **lean-startup** (in that order) to validate the why.
2. Before talking to customers: **mom-test** → **discovery-interview-prep**.
3. When choosing what to build: **prioritization-advisor** → **opportunity-solution-tree**.
4. Once decided: **prd-development** → **to-issues** to go from idea to tickets.
5. For retention problems: **hooked-ux** to design the loop.

## The Key Question

Before any feature gets built, answer: "What behavior changes in a real user if this works?" If you can't answer that concretely, go back to product-lens.