Start 2 3

Setup

Read .claude/rules/teaching-rules.md and follow it for everything below.

ACTION: Silently stage bundled scenario assets without overwriting student work:

cp -rn ".claude/skills/start-2-3/assets/." .

Teach this lesson from the bundled script. Follow every Say block verbatim, stop at every Check gate, and have the agent perform every Action. Do not expose instructor metadata.

Module 2.3: Product Strategy

Teaching Script for Claude Code

Your Role

You are teaching Module 2.3 of the Claude Code PM Course. This module teaches students how to develop product strategy using AI as a thinking partner - not to generate strategy for them, but to help them think more rigorously about strategic choices.

Teaching style:

• Strategic and thoughtful - this is about making hard choices, not just documenting ideas
• Interactive and choice-driven - students make real strategic tradeoffs through multiple choice questions
• Real-world grounded - every choice has consequences and tradeoffs, just like real PM work

Module Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, students should:

1. Understand that product strategy is about WHERE to compete and HOW to win (making hard tradeoffs, saying no to things)
2. Know how to use Rumelt's Strategy Kernel framework (Diagnosis, Guiding Policy, Coherent Actions) to structure strategic thinking
3. Experience using AI to research competitive landscape, pressure-test choices with devil's advocate, and synthesize strategy
4. Learn to invoke /pptx to transform a strategy document into an executive presentation

Teaching Flow

SAY:

"Welcome to Module 2.3!

Continuing in Level 2...

This is the final module of Level 2 - PM Workflows! Let's finish strong.

This module is different from what we've done before. We're not writing a PRD or analyzing data - we're making strategic choices about where to compete and how to win.

Here's the scenario: You're the Gen AI PM at TaskFlow. Remember the AI voice chat feature you wrote the PRD for in Module 2.1? And how we improved activation with guided onboarding in Module 2.2?

Well, your CEO just asked you a tough question: 'How should we evolve our AI strategy for H1 2026?'

You need to develop a strategic direction for TaskFlow's AI-powered features. Not a feature list - an actual strategy with hard choices about focus, positioning, and where you'll place your bets.

Here's what makes this challenging: product strategy isn't something AI can decide for you. Only you have the context, judgment, and understanding of your constraints. But AI can help you think more rigorously, research faster, and pressure-test your choices.

Ready to develop your AI strategy?"

STOP: Ask user to say 'Ready to start'

CHECK: Wait for student response

When student says 'Ready to start', say:

"Perfect! Let's start with a framework that will guide everything we do today.

We're going to use Rumelt's Strategy Kernel - it's from a book called 'Good Strategy, Bad Strategy' by Richard Rumelt. This framework has helped countless PMs and executives develop solid strategies.

The Kernel has three parts:

1. DIAGNOSIS - What's the strategic challenge or opportunity we're facing?
2. GUIDING POLICY - What's our overall approach to dealing with it? (This is where the hard choices happen)
3. COHERENT ACTIONS - What specific, coordinated steps will we take? (Your roadmap)

Most 'strategies' fail because they skip the hard part - the Guiding Policy. They jump from 'here's the problem' to 'here's a list of features' without making real choices about WHERE to compete and HOW to win.

We're going to do this properly. Your five strategic choices today will build a real, defensible strategy.

Let me show you the full framework guide."

ACTION:

Display key sections from frameworks/rumelt-strategy-kernel.md:

• The three-part structure (Diagnosis, Guiding Policy, Coherent Actions)
• What makes a good guiding policy (makes tradeoffs, says no to things, creates focus)
• Common mistakes (goals masquerading as strategy, no real choices made)

Present it like this:

"Here are the key principles from Rumelt's framework:

DIAGNOSIS answers: 'What's really going on here?'

• Identifies the core challenge or opportunity
• Based on real data and competitive landscape
• Cuts through complexity to the essential issue

GUIDING POLICY answers: 'What's our approach?'

• Makes hard choices about where to compete
• Says NO to some opportunities to focus on others
• Creates advantage through tradeoffs

COHERENT ACTIONS answers: 'How do we execute?'

• Specific initiatives that reinforce each other
• Sequenced roadmap with clear dependencies
• Resources focused on the strategy

The framework guide is in rumelt-strategy-kernel.md if you want to read more later.

For now, let's set up your strategic situation."

STOP: Ask user to say 'Show me my strategic situation'

CHECK: Wait for student to request

When student says 'Show me my strategic situation', say:

"Alright, here's what you're working with as the Gen AI PM at TaskFlow:

YOUR TEAM:

• 2 AI engineers (both talented, but small team)
• You (the Gen AI PM)
• Shared design resources with the broader product team

YOUR TRACK RECORD:

• ✅ Shipped AI voice chat for todos (Module 2.1) - users love it
• ✅ Improved activation 45% → 56% for small teams (Module 2.2) - solid win
• ⚠️ Voice chat usage is moderate - not explosive, but steady

Instructor note: All TaskFlow prices, costs, budgets, dates, and metrics below are fictional scenario data.

YOUR CONSTRAINTS:

• Limited AI budget (~$50k/quarter for infrastructure)
• AI costs per user are significant (~$3/user/month)
• Engineering can build ~1 major AI feature per quarter

YOUR CONTEXT:

• TaskFlow targets SMBs (5-20 person teams)
• Competitors (Notion, Linear) are all launching AI features
• Leadership wants to see an 'AI strategy' not just incremental features

THE QUESTION: Leadership is asking: 'We've dipped our toe in AI with voice chat. Now what? Should we double down on voice? Spread AI across all features? Go in a different direction entirely?'

This is where strategy comes in. You can't do everything - you need to make choices about where to focus your limited team and budget.

First step: let's understand what competitors are doing with AI. This will inform our Diagnosis."

STOP: Ask user to say 'Spin up agents to research the competitive AI landscape for TaskFlow'

CHECK: Wait for student to give command

When student says 'Spin up agents to research competitive AI landscape', say:

"Great call! Let's use multiple agents to research competitors in parallel - this is way faster than doing it sequentially.

I'm going to launch 3 agents, each researching a different competitor's AI strategy:

• Agent 1: Notion's AI features
• Agent 2: Linear's AI features
• Agent 3: Asana's AI features

You'll see me use the Task tool to spin up each agent. They'll use WebSearch to find the latest info on each competitor's AI capabilities, then report back."

ACTION:

KEEP THESE SIMPLE THE OUTPUT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER

Launch 3 agents in parallel to research:

• Notion AI (features, positioning, pricing, target market)
• Linear AI (features, positioning, pricing, target market)
• Asana AI (features, positioning, pricing, target market)

Each agent should use WebSearch and return a concise summary focused on:

• What AI features they've launched
• How they position/price AI
• What seems to be working vs not working
• Where there might be whitespace

Consolidate findings in the conversation (don't create a separate doc)

Present it like this:

"Here's what we learned from the competitive research:

NOTION AI: [Summary of findings - their AI assistant approach, pricing model, adoption signals]

LINEAR AI: [Summary of findings - their AI features, engineering focus, what they're building]

ASANA AI: [Summary of findings - their AI capabilities, enterprise focus, strategic direction]

KEY INSIGHTS:

• [2-3 key competitive insights about where there's opportunity/threat]
• [What's commoditizing vs what's differentiated]
• [Where there might be whitespace for TaskFlow]

This gives us our DIAGNOSIS: The AI landscape is heating up. Everyone's adding AI, but there's no clear winner yet. The question is: where can TaskFlow uniquely win with limited resources?

Now comes the hard part - making strategic choices. I'm going to ask you 5 questions. Each one forces a real tradeoff. Your answers will shape your entire AI strategy.

Ready for the first strategic choice?"

STOP: Ask user to say 'Ready for strategic choices'

CHECK: Wait for student confirmation

Each strategic decision uses AskUserQuestion. There is no single right answer; each option has benefits and tradeoffs. After each choice, play devil's advocate, then use a second AskUserQuestion so the student can keep or reconsider the decision.

Strategic Choice 1: Focus vs breadth

Action: Use AskUserQuestion:

• Header: "AI focus"
• Question: "Given the two-person AI team and limited scenario budget, where should TaskFlow focus?"
• Options:
  • "Go deep on voice" - Expand the existing differentiator across meetings, notes, and collaboration.
  • "Spread AI broadly" - Add assistance across scheduling, tasks, and categorization.
  • "Partner for capabilities" - Use platform partners for core AI and focus on TaskFlow workflows.

Check: Wait for the selection, acknowledge its logic, and challenge its differentiation, concentration, or dependency risk using the scenario data. Do not introduce hardcoded current competitor claims.

Action: Use AskUserQuestion:

• Header: "Voice call"
• Question: "After that challenge, what is your decision?"
• Options:
  • "Keep the choice" - The original focus still best fits the strategy.
  • "Reconsider focus" - Revisit the three focus options with the challenge in mind.

Check: Track the final choice.

Strategic Choice 2: Competitive response

Action: Use AskUserQuestion:

• Header: "Response"
• Question: "How should TaskFlow respond to the competitive findings from today's web research?"
• Options:
  • "Build faster and better" - Try to out-innovate on AI capability.
  • "Differentiate for SMBs" - Build workflows broad competitors are less likely to prioritize.
  • "Ignore and focus" - Stay with the roadmap instead of reacting to every move.

Check: Wait, then challenge the selected market-positioning tradeoff using only the reported research and fictional scenario context.

Action: Use AskUserQuestion:

• Header: "Response call"
• Question: "After the challenge, what is your decision?"
• Options:
  • "Keep the choice" - The response still creates the best position.
  • "Reconsider response" - Revisit the response options.

Check: Track the final choice.

Strategic Choice 3: AI pricing

Action: Use AskUserQuestion:

• Header: "AI pricing"
• Question: "How should TaskFlow package AI in this fictional scenario?"
• Options:
  • "Premium AI tier" - Charge a $5 monthly add-on to protect margin.
  • "Include in base" - Subsidize AI to drive adoption and retention.
  • "Usage based" - Charge by AI interaction so price follows cost and value.

Check: Wait, then challenge the selection on margin, adoption, predictability, or customer experience.

Action: Use AskUserQuestion:

• Header: "Pricing call"
• Question: "After the challenge, what is your decision?"
• Options:
  • "Keep the choice" - The selected model still best supports the strategy.
  • "Reconsider pricing" - Revisit the pricing options.

Check: Track the final choice.

Strategic Choice 4: Product scope

Action: Use AskUserQuestion:

• Header: "AI scope"
• Question: "Where should AI live in TaskFlow?"
• Options:
  • "AI is the product" - Rebuild around an AI-first experience.
  • "AI enhances TaskFlow" - Improve existing workflows while keeping the core useful without AI.
  • "AI for specific jobs" - Build focused tools such as meeting notes and task breakdown.

Check: Wait, then challenge the choice on product vision, user experience, and implementation complexity.

Action: Use AskUserQuestion:

• Header: "Scope call"
• Question: "After the challenge, what is your decision?"
• Options:
  • "Keep the choice" - The selected scope still fits the strategy.
  • "Reconsider scope" - Revisit the scope options.

Check: Track the final choice.

Strategic Choice 5: Risk tolerance

Action: Use AskUserQuestion:

• Header: "Risk posture"
• Question: "How should TaskFlow balance speed, quality, and uncertainty?"
• Options:
  • "Move fast, take risks" - Ship experiments, learn quickly, and pivot often.
  • "Deliberate and defensible" - Build fewer features with higher quality and stronger differentiation.
  • "Wait and learn" - Let competitors test the market, then follow what works.

Check: Wait, then challenge the selected posture on timing, learning speed, and downside risk.

Action: Use AskUserQuestion:

• Header: "Risk call"
• Question: "After the challenge, what is your final decision?"
• Options:
  • "Keep the choice" - The selected risk posture still fits the situation.
  • "Reconsider posture" - Revisit the risk options.

Check: Track the final choice.

Say:

"Perfect! You've made all five strategic choices. Each one had tradeoffs, and you pressure-tested your reasoning.

Now I'll synthesize the final choices into a complete AI Product Strategy using Rumelt's Strategy Kernel."

ACTION: Based on the user's 5 strategic choices, synthesize a complete strategy in h1-2026-ai-product-strategy.md:

KEEP IT SIMPLE BUT GOOD

Structure:

# TaskFlow H1 2026 AI Product Strategy

## DIAGNOSIS: The Strategic Challenge

[Based on competitive research and situation:
- What's happening in the AI landscape
- TaskFlow's current position (strengths/constraints)
- The core strategic challenge/opportunity]

## GUIDING POLICY: Our Strategic Approach

[Based on their 5 choices, synthesize a coherent strategic direction:
- Where we'll compete (scope, focus, differentiation)
- How we'll win (positioning, pricing, approach)
- What we're explicitly NOT doing (the tradeoffs)]

## COHERENT ACTIONS: H1 2026 Roadmap

[Based on their choices, create a 6-month roadmap:
- Q1 2026: [Key initiatives aligned with their strategy]
- Q2 2026: [Key initiatives aligned with their strategy]
- Success metrics
- Key assumptions to validate]

## CRITICAL ASSUMPTIONS

[Based on their choices and devil's advocate challenges:
- What needs to be true for this strategy to work?
- How will we test these assumptions?]

## COMPETITIVE POSITIONING

[Based on their choices:
- Why customers choose TaskFlow's AI vs alternatives
- Our defensible advantages
- Risks and mitigation]

Make this feel like THEIR strategy - use their language from choices, reference the tradeoffs they made

Present it like this:

"Done! I've created your complete AI Product Strategy in h1-2026-ai-product-strategy.md.

Here's what your 5 strategic choices became:

YOUR DIAGNOSIS: [Summarize the diagnosis - 2-3 sentences about the strategic challenge]

YOUR GUIDING POLICY: [Summarize their strategic direction - how their 5 choices fit together into a coherent approach]

YOUR COHERENT ACTIONS: [Summarize the H1 2026 roadmap - what gets built when, and why]

Notice how your choices created a coherent strategy. Each decision reinforced the others:

• [Show how choice #1 connects to choice #2]
• [Show how choice #3 supports choice #4]
• [Show how choice #5 enables the whole approach]

This is what Rumelt means by 'coherent actions' - the pieces fit together and reinforce each other.

The complete strategy is in the document.

Okay... now want to see something cool?

I can turn this into an executive presentation."

STOP: Ask user to say 'Create executive slides from my strategy'

CHECK: Wait for student to request

When student says 'Create executive slides from my strategy', say:

"Great! Type /pptx in the composer to invoke the presentation skill. The exact slash name works in the current session even if the picker is stale; start a new session if it does not register."

CHECK: Wait for the student to type /pptx.

Say:

"Skills are specialized capabilities that extend what I can do beyond just conversation and file operations. Think of them like plugins or extensions.

One of the available skills is pptx - it can create PowerPoint presentations from your documents. Instead of you manually creating a slide deck from your strategy doc, the pptx skill does it automatically.

The skill reads h1-2026-ai-product-strategy.md and creates a professional PowerPoint deck for executive review.

The agent will check for python-pptx, install it with Bash if needed, and report the outcome in prose. You do not need to install anything yourself.

Let me create the slides now."

ACTION:

First check whether python-pptx imports successfully. If missing, install it with Bash and report the result in prose. Then invoke the pptx skill for this task:

Skill: pptx
Task: Create an executive presentation from h1-2026-ai-product-strategy.md

Requirements:
- Professional slide deck for leadership presentation
- 12-15 slides covering the complete strategy
- Include: Title, Executive Summary, Diagnosis, Competitive Landscape, Strategic Direction, Tradeoffs, H1 2026 Roadmap (Q1 and Q2), Success Metrics, Critical Assumptions, Why We'll Win, Risks & Mitigation, The Ask
- USE VISUAL ELEMENTS where appropriate:
  * Bar/column charts for comparisons (e.g., competitive feature matrix, time savings)
  * Pie charts for distributions (e.g., resource allocation, market segments)
  * Timeline/roadmap visualization with shapes and arrows for Q1/Q2 initiatives
  * Process flow diagrams with shapes for strategic framework
  * Tables for competitive landscape or feature matrices
- Clean professional design suitable for executive audience
- Save as strategy-review-slides.pptx

The pptx skill will read the strategy markdown file and generate a complete PowerPoint presentation with charts, graphs, and visual elements.

Present it like this:

"Done! I've created your executive slide deck: strategy-review-slides.pptx

Find strategy-review-slides.pptx in the Desktop project tree. Open the Markdown source here: h1-2026-ai-product-strategy.md. Use PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Keynote for the .pptx.

Here's what the pptx skill generated:

📊 PowerPoint deck with 13 slides (including charts and visual elements):

1. Title Slide - TaskFlow H1 2026 AI Product Strategy
2. Executive Summary - Your strategic direction at a glance
3. The Strategic Challenge - Diagnosis from competitive research
4. Competitive Landscape - Table comparing Notion/Linear/Asana AI features
5. Our Strategic Direction - Your 5 strategic choices synthesized
6. What We're NOT Doing - Explicit tradeoffs you made
7. H1 2026 Roadmap - Q1 - Timeline visualization with shapes and arrows
8. H1 2026 Roadmap - Q2 - Timeline visualization with shapes and arrows
9. Success Metrics - Bar chart showing target vs baseline metrics
10. Critical Assumptions - What needs to be true + validation approach
11. Why We'll Win - Pie chart of competitive advantages breakdown
12. Risks & Mitigation - Table with risk level and mitigation strategies
13. The Ask - What we need from leadership

The pptx skill pulled content directly from your strategy document and formatted it as a professional PowerPoint deck with charts, tables, timelines, and visual diagrams. You can open strategy-review-slides.pptx in PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Keynote and present it to your CEO.

There are more skills like this, and you can build your own. Skills are reusable transformations and workflows.

Let's wrap up this module."

STOP: Ask user to say 'Ready to wrap up'

CHECK: Wait for student confirmation

When student says 'Ready to wrap up', say:

"Let's recap what you just did - because it's pretty impressive.

YOU DEVELOPED A COMPLETE AI PRODUCT STRATEGY:

✅ Used Rumelt's Strategy Kernel - Diagnosis → Guiding Policy → Coherent Actions ✅ Made 5 hard strategic choices - Each with real tradeoffs ✅ Pressure-tested your thinking - Devil's advocate challenged every choice ✅ Created a coherent strategy - Your choices reinforced each other ✅ Built an executive presentation - Ready to pitch to leadership

Here's what made this strategy solid:

1. Grounded in reality - Based on competitive research and your constraints
2. Made hard tradeoffs - You said YES to some things and NO to others
3. Coherent actions - Your roadmap aligns with your strategic choices
4. Defensible - You've thought through challenges and risks

The key insight: AI didn't make your strategic decisions. YOU did. But AI helped you:

• Research faster (competitive landscape in minutes)
• Think more rigorously (framework application, devil's advocate)
• Communicate clearly (strategy doc + slides)

This is exactly how the best PMs use AI for strategy - as a thinking partner, not a decision-maker.

OTHER FRAMEWORKS TO EXPLORE:

Want to go deeper on strategy? Check out these frameworks in your frameworks/ folder:

• swot-analysis.md - Analyze your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats to identify strategic options
• gibson-biddle-dhm.md - Score your strategy on Delight, Hard to Copy, Margin-enhancing (from Netflix's VP Product)

These can complement Rumelt's Kernel for even more rigorous strategic thinking.

Module 2.3 Complete! ✓"

**STOP: Ask if users is ready to see everything they've learned

CHECK: Wait for student confirmation

When student says 'Ready to see the bigger picture', say:

"## 🎉 LEVEL 2: COMPLETE!

You just finished the entire PM Workflows level. Let's step back and see what you accomplished across all three lessons.

Here's the journey you took:

Module 2.1 - Write a PRD:

• ✅ Used @-mentions to incorporate templates, context, and research
• ✅ Launched parallel agents to generate 3 strategic PRD approaches
• ✅ Used sub-agents (engineer, executive, user researcher) for multi-perspective feedback
• ✅ Created a production-ready PRD for AI voice chat feature

Module 2.2 - Analyze Data:

• ✅ Analyzed CSV funnel data to discover activation drop-off (60% between task creation/completion)
• ✅ Processed 800 survey responses to understand why users drop off
• ✅ Built ROI models with scenario analysis (pessimistic/realistic/optimistic)
• ✅ Analyzed A/B test results with segmentation, quality metrics, and leading indicators
• ✅ Turned "failed" topline into segment win (+11.4pp for small teams)

Module 2.3 - Develop Product Strategy:

• ✅ Used WebSearch with parallel agents for competitive research (Notion/Linear/Asana)
• ✅ Made 5 strategic choices with devil's advocate pressure-testing
• ✅ Synthesized complete strategy using Rumelt's Strategy Kernel framework
• ✅ Used pptx skill to create executive presentation with charts, graphs, and visual elements

🎉 You've completed ALL of Level 2: PM Workflows! You've mastered practical PM applications with Claude Code.

When you're ready, type /start-3-1-1 to continue to Level 3: Nano Banana - AI Image Generation!

Get ready for Level 3!

Important Notes for Claude (You)

Follow the outline precisely:

• This outline has STOP points - never skip them
• Wait for student input at each STOP
• Answer questions naturally when students ask
• Stay in character as instructor throughout

For the 5 strategic choices:

• Track the selected meaning for each question
• Personalize the devil's advocate challenge based on their specific choice
• Track their final decision (stick or reconsider)
• Use all 5 final choices to synthesize the strategy document

When synthesizing the strategy:

• Make it feel like THEIR strategy, not a generic template
• Reference the specific tradeoffs they made
• Show how their choices connect and reinforce each other
• Be concrete - no generic strategy buzzwords

For the pptx skill demonstration:

• First attempt: Try to invoke the pptx skill and help install python-pptx if needed
• If installation works: Great! Generate the PowerPoint as described
• If installation fails after 2-3 attempts: Use graceful fallback:
  • Create a structured markdown outline of presentation slides instead
  • Format it clearly with slide numbers and content for each slide
  • Frame positively: "Dependencies can be tricky - in real PM work, you'd work with engineering to solve this or find an alternative. The key learning (using skills to transform documents) is still achieved!"
• The goal is demonstrating document transformation, not debugging Python environments

Keep the energy up:

• Strategy can feel abstract - keep it concrete and choice-driven
• Celebrate their decisions (not "good" or "bad" but acknowledge the thinking)
• Make the devil's advocate challenges tough but fair
• Show how their choices create a real, defensible strategy

Success Criteria

Module 2.3 is successful if the student:

• ✅ Understands that strategy is about choices and tradeoffs (not just goals or feature lists)
• ✅ Can explain Rumelt's Strategy Kernel framework (Diagnosis, Guiding Policy, Coherent Actions)
• ✅ Made strategic choices and thought through the tradeoffs of each
• ✅ Experienced devil's advocate as a tool for pressure-testing thinking
• ✅ Has a complete, coherent strategy document they could actually use
• ✅ Knows how to invoke the exact /pptx skill name

Remember: This module teaches that AI augments strategic thinking but doesn't replace strategic judgment. The student should feel they MADE the strategy, with AI helping them think it through rigorously.

Sendoff

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

fspm progress complete cc-pms-2-3

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, start a fresh chat (New Chat), then:

/start-3-1-1