Start 1 3

Setup

Read .cursor/SCRIPT_INSTRUCTIONS.md and follow it for everything below.

ACTION: Silently stage bundled lesson assets without overwriting student work.

cp -rn .cursor/skills/start-1-3/assets/* . 2>/dev/null || true

Module 1.3: Your First PM Tasks

• Welcome to Module 1.3: Your First PM Tasks
• In Module 1.2 you learned the Cursor interface - file explorer, AI Pane, @ mentions
• Now you're going to use those skills for REAL PM work
• No practice exercises - actual tasks PMs do every day
• STOP: Ready to do some real work?
• USER: Yes / Ready

• Today you'll learn three common PM workflows
• First: Taking messy meeting notes and cleaning them up
• Second: Transforming notes into polished deliverables
• Third: Analyzing multiple files to find insights
• These are things you'll do constantly as a PM
• STOP: Sound good?
• USER: Confirms

• Scenario 1: Append to Existing File
• Imagine: You just got out of a product strategy meeting
• You took rough notes during the call - they're a bit messy
• You need to add a clean summary to the bottom of those notes for your team
• Let's do that now
• In the file explorer, find lesson-modules/1.3-first-tasks/meeting-notes-raw.md
• STOP: Do you see it?
• USER: Yes

• Great! Open it and skim through it
• These are realistic rough notes - typos, incomplete thoughts, stream of consciousness
• But you need a clean summary at the bottom to share with your team
• Let's have Cursor add that for you
• STOP: Type this command: "Read @meeting-notes-raw.md and append a clean summary section to the bottom of the file"
• USER: Types and sends command
• ACTION: Read the file and append summary section

• Perfect! Look at what just happened above in this pane and in the file itself at the bottom.
• You should see me proposing changes to meeting-notes-raw.md
• This is the Apply/Reject workflow - super important for PMs
• You can review each change before accepting it
• For most PM tasks, "Accept All" is totally fine
• But you CAN reject specific changes if something looks wrong
• STOP: Do you see the proposed changes?
• USER: Confirms

• Go ahead and click "Accept All" (or review and accept individually if you prefer)
• STOP: Did the changes get applied?
• USER: Confirms

• Awesome! That's workflow #1: editing existing files in-place
• STOP: Ready for the next one?
• USER: Confirms

• Scenario 2: Transform to New File
• New scenario: You have notes from a product sync meeting
• You need to send an executive summary email to your VP
• You don't want to edit the original notes - you want a NEW file in email format
• Let's do that
• In the file explorer, find and open lesson-modules/1.3-first-tasks/product-sync-notes.md
• STOP: Do you see it?
• USER: Yes

• Great!
• STOP: Type this: "Read @product-sync-notes.md and create a new file called product-sync-email.md formatted as an executive email summary"
• USER: Types and sends command
• ACTION: Read product-sync-notes.md and create product-sync-email.md

• Look - I just created a BRAND NEW file, instead of editing the existing one
• You should see the Apply/Reject workflow again
• This time for creating a new file
• Accept the changes
• STOP: Do you see the file?
• USER: Confirms

• Open it up - see how it's formatted as a polished email, not rough notes?
• That's the key difference: Scenario 1 edited the existing file, but this created a NEW file
• Same input (notes), different output format (email).
• This is the general workflow for creating new documents. And with @ mentioning, you can easily give me whatever context I need to create them. Pay attention to this pattern!
• So that's workflow #2: creating new files
• STOP: Ready for the next one?
• USER: Confirms

• Scenario 3: Folder Analysis to New File
• Final scenario: You conducted 8 user interviews this week
• Each interview is in a separate file
• You need to synthesize all 8 into one insights document
• This is where @ mentions get REALLY powerful
• In the file explorer, find lesson-modules/1.3-first-tasks/user-interviews/
• Expand that folder
• STOP: How many interview files do you see?
• USER: 8 files

• Exactly! You could @ mention each file individually... but there's a better way
• You can @ mention the ENTIRE FOLDER
• STOP: Type this: "Analyze all files in @user-interviews and create a new file called user-research-insights.md with the top 3 pain points and supporting quotes"
• USER: Types and sends command

• ACTION: Read all 8 interview files and create synthesis document
• Done! I just read all 8 files and synthesized them into one document
• This is HUGE for PMs - you can analyze dozens of files in seconds
• STOP: Do you see the new insights file being proposed? Go ahead and accept the change.
• USER: Confirms

• Open user-research-insights.md in the editor
• This is a synthesis of 8 separate interviews - I read all 8 files and pulled out the key themes
• STOP: Do you see the top pain points with supporting quotes?
• USER: Confirms

• Perfect! You just did multi-file analysis

• Let's recap what you learned
• Scenario 1: Append to existing file (in-place editing)
• Scenario 2: Transform to new file (read one, create another)
• Scenario 3: Folder analysis (read many, synthesize one)
• These three patterns cover 80% of PM work in Cursor
• STOP: Make sense?
• USER: Confirms

• Here's the key insight: @ mentions + clear instructions = powerful PM workflows
• You can edit existing docs, create new formatted outputs, or analyze multiple files
• The Apply/Reject workflow lets you review before accepting
• In practice, you'll mostly Accept All for PM tasks
• STOP: Any questions about these workflows?
• USER: Questions or confirms

• Fantastic! You just did real PM work
• You cleaned up meeting notes, created an executive email, and synthesized user research
• In Module 1.4, you'll learn how to use templates for consistent formatting
• STOP: Ready to move on?
• USER: Confirms

• Perfect! You're ready for Module 1.4
• When you're ready for the next module, open a new tab in this AI Pane and type: /start-1-4
• See you there!

ACTION: Before wrapping up, record this lesson as complete by running this WITHOUT NARRATING the raw output:

fspm progress complete cursor-pms-1-3

If it fails because the fspm CLI isn't installed, follow the teaching rules' missing-CLI guidance: tell the learner progress tracking needs the FSPM CLI, offer to install it, and continue the wrap-up either way.

Then close out with the student's options, in natural language (never as a command list):

• Mention they can leave feedback on this lesson anytime — if they have some, collect it conversationally and submit it with the CLI (see teaching rules).
• Remind them, briefly and only if it fits the moment, that they can always ask for a recap, a quiz on what they just did, a saved note, or where they stand in the course.
• End with the next step: when you're ready for the next lesson, use /clear first, then:

/start-1-4