Product Roast

Product Roast + Vision Workshop

Overview

Transform apps from "functional" to "holy shit, this gets me" through systematic product analysis that combines:

• The Roast: Brutal honesty about what's broken, ugly, confusing, and inefficient
• The Vision: Behavioral psychology-informed reimagining of what's possible
• The Roadmap: Prioritized action items from quick wins to transformative bets
• The Implementation: From analysis to shipped improvements

Core Principle: Most apps fail not from bugs, but from missed opportunities. Finding bugs is table stakes. Finding the version that makes users show this to their friends - that's the goal.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• Auditing an app for improvement opportunities
• Preparing for a product review or retrospective
• Planning the next development cycle
• Onboarding to a new codebase and wanting to understand its weaknesses
• The app "works" but doesn't delight
• Users aren't returning or engaging as expected

Target App Types:

• Habit trackers / Goal apps (specialized frameworks included)
• Clinical/Medical apps (workflow optimization included)
• Any web or mobile application

The Workshop Process

This skill runs as a guided workshop with five phases. Complete each phase before proceeding.

Phase 1: Context Gathering

Before any analysis, understand:

1. The App

   • What is it? (one sentence)
   • What's the tech stack?
   • Where's the codebase? (path)
   • Is it deployed? (URL if available)

2. The Users

   • Who are they? (persona in 2-3 sentences)
   • What's their context when using this? (rushed? relaxed? stressed?)
   • What job are they hiring this app to do?
   • What alternatives do they have?

3. The State

   • What's working well? (don't fix what isn't broken)
   • What's the known pain? (user complaints, intuitions)
   • What metrics matter? (retention, completion rate, NPS, etc.)
   • When did someone last say "wow" about this app?

4. The Constraints

   • How much time/resources for improvements?
   • Any technical debt limiting changes?
   • Any business constraints (compliance, integrations)?

Ask these questions interactively, one at a time, using AskUserQuestion tool.

Phase 2: The Roast

Systematic analysis to find everything wrong.

REQUIRED: Read references/roast-checklist.md for complete checklist.

Severity Scoring

Roast Categories

For each category, document issues with:

• What: Specific issue description
• Where: File path and line number (if code) or screen/flow (if UX)
• Why it matters: User impact
• Severity: 🔥 to 🔥🔥🔥

Categories:

1. Broken Functionality - Things that don't work as expected
2. UX Friction - Unnecessary steps, confusing flows, cognitive load
3. Visual Design - Inconsistent, ugly, unclear hierarchy, accessibility failures
4. Performance - Slow, laggy, resource-heavy, bad loading states
5. Code Quality - Tech debt, maintainability, patterns that will bite later
6. Missing Table Stakes - Basic features competitors have that you don't
7. Mobile Experience - Responsive failures, touch targets, thumb zones

Automated Analysis Steps

1. Codebase Scan

   - Search for TODO/FIXME/HACK comments
   - Check for console.log/debugger statements
   - Look for commented-out code
   - Identify large files (>500 lines)
   - Check for any security issues (exposed secrets, SQL injection, XSS)
   

2. Dependency Audit

   - Check for outdated packages
   - Look for deprecated dependencies
   - Identify unused dependencies
   

3. Type Safety Check

   - Run TypeScript compiler
   - Look for `any` types
   - Check for missing types in API responses
   

4. UI/UX Walkthrough

   - Navigate every screen
   - Test every interaction
   - Check all states (loading, error, empty, success)
   - Test responsive at 375px, 768px, 1440px
   - Check accessibility (keyboard nav, screen reader, color contrast)
   

Phase 3: The Vision

For each major feature area, reimagine what's possible.

REQUIRED: Read references/behavioral-psychology.md for psychology principles. REQUIRED: Read references/competitive-patterns.md for best-in-class examples.

Vision Framework

For each feature area, document:

1. Current State: What it does now (one line, no judgment)

2. The Problem: Why it's mid (specific diagnosis)

   • What user need is unmet?
   • What friction exists?
   • What delight is missing?

3. The Vision: What it could be (specific, not vague)

   • Describe the ideal experience in detail
   • Include specific interactions, visuals, feelings
   • "Show, don't tell" - be concrete

4. The Psychology: Why this would work

   • Cite specific behavioral principle from references
   • Explain the mechanism
   • Reference competitors who do this well

5. Implementation Sketch: Direction (not full code)

   • Key technical components needed
   • Rough effort estimate (small/medium/large)
   • Dependencies or prerequisites

Feature Areas to Analyze

For Habit/Goal Trackers (like GoalConnect):

• Habit visualization (streaks, graphs, progress)
• Logging experience (friction optimization)
• Streak mechanics (break recovery, freeze)
• Motivation systems (rewards, celebrations)
• Social/accountability features
• Onboarding and "aha moment"
• Daily engagement hooks
• Long-term progression

For Clinical Apps (like VetHub):

• Information architecture (glance vs. buried)
• Clinical workflow efficiency
• Quick actions and shortcuts
• Error prevention in high-stakes
• Patient status at a glance
• Documentation speed
• Integration with existing tools
• Shift handoff experience

For General Apps:

• Core value proposition delivery
• Navigation and information architecture
• Key user flows (identify top 3)
• Empty states and onboarding
• Error handling and recovery
• Settings and personalization
• Notifications and engagement

Phase 4: Roadmap Prioritization

Sort findings into actionable buckets.

Impact/Effort Matrix

Prioritization Criteria

Impact Score (1-5):

• 5: Transforms core experience, affects all users
• 4: Major improvement to key flow
• 3: Noticeable improvement, affects many users
• 2: Nice polish, affects some users
• 1: Minor improvement, few users notice

Effort Score (1-5):

• 1: < 1 hour (config change, copy fix, simple CSS)
• 2: 1-4 hours (single component, simple feature)
• 3: 4-16 hours (multi-component, API changes)
• 4: 1-3 days (significant feature, schema changes)
• 5: 1+ weeks (architectural change, major feature)

Output Buckets

1. Quick Wins (Impact ≥ 3, Effort ≤ 2)

   • Do these this week
   • Should have 5-10 items
   • Each should be independently shippable

2. Big Bets (Impact ≥ 4, Effort ≥ 3)

   • Features that would transform the app
   • Require planning and design
   • Should have 3-5 items max

3. Easy Fixes (Impact ≤ 2, Effort ≤ 2)

   • Batch these for polish sprints
   • Good for new contributors
   • Don't let these block important work

4. Nice to Have (Impact ≤ 3, Effort ≥ 3)

   • Backlog fodder
   • Revisit quarterly
   • May never do, and that's okay

Phase 5: Artifact Generation

Produce actionable outputs.

1. Markdown Report

Write comprehensive report to: docs/product-roast-YYYY-MM-DD.md

Structure:

# Product Roast + Vision Report: [App Name]
Generated: [Date]

## Executive Summary
[One paragraph: The app you have vs. the app you could have]

## Part 1: The Roast

### Critical Issues 🔥🔥🔥
[List with severity, location, impact]

### Moderate Issues 🔥🔥
[List]

### Minor Issues 🔥
[List]

## Part 2: The Vision

### [Feature Area 1]
- Current State:
- The Problem:
- The Vision:
- The Psychology:
- Implementation Sketch:

[Repeat for each feature area]

## Part 3: Prioritized Roadmap

### Quick Wins (This Week)
- [ ] Item 1
- [ ] Item 2
...

### Big Bets (Transform the App)
1. [Big Bet 1] - [Why it matters]
2. [Big Bet 2] - [Why it matters]
...

### Nice to Have (Backlog)
- Item 1
- Item 2
...

## Appendix
- Competitive Analysis Summary
- Psychology Principles Applied
- Technical Debt Inventory

2. GitHub Issues

For each Quick Win and Big Bet, create GitHub issue:

gh issue create --title "[Severity] Issue Title" \
  --body "## Problem
[Description]

## Solution
[Proposed fix]

## Acceptance Criteria
- [ ] Criterion 1
- [ ] Criterion 2

## Priority
[Quick Win / Big Bet]

## Psychology Principle
[If applicable]
" \
  --label "enhancement,from-roast"

3. Implementation Specs

For top 3 Quick Wins and top Big Bet, generate detailed spec:

# Implementation Spec: [Feature Name]

## User Story
As a [user], I want [goal] so that [benefit].

## Current Behavior
[Screenshot or description]

## Desired Behavior
[Screenshot or description]

## Technical Approach
1. [Step 1]
2. [Step 2]
...

## Files to Modify
- `path/to/file.ts` - [What changes]
- `path/to/other.tsx` - [What changes]

## Acceptance Criteria
- [ ] [Testable criterion]
- [ ] [Testable criterion]

## Design Mockup
[If UI change, include mockup or link to figma]

4. Design Mockups (Optional)

For visual improvements, invoke frontend-design skill to generate mockups.

Phase 6: Implementation Mode

After generating artifacts, ask:

"Analysis complete. What would you like to implement?"

Options:

1. Quick Wins Sprint - Implement all quick wins now
2. Specific Items - Choose specific items to implement
3. Big Bet Deep Dive - Plan and implement top big bet
4. Just the Analysis - Done for now, will implement later

For implementation:

• Use systematic-debugging for bug fixes
• Use frontend-design for UI improvements
• Use executing-plans for larger features
• Mark items complete in GitHub as shipped

Integration with Other Skills

This skill uses:

• systematic-debugging - For investigating root causes during roast
• frontend-design - For generating mockups and implementing UI fixes
• executing-plans - For implementing larger roadmap items
• brainstorming - For exploring vision alternatives

Complementary skills:

• code-reviewer - Run after implementing fixes
• design-system-guardian - Check UI consistency

Key Principles

For The Roast

• Be specific: "The button is ugly" ❌ → "The button uses bg-gray-400 which has insufficient contrast (3.2:1) and inconsistent border-radius (4px vs 8px elsewhere)" ✓
• Include location: Always reference file:line or screen/element
• Quantify impact: "Affects 100% of users on mobile" > "bad on mobile"
• Severity matters: Don't treat everything as critical

For The Vision

• Be concrete: "Make it better" ❌ → "Add a GitHub-style contribution graph showing the last 365 days with color intensity based on completion %" ✓
• Cite psychology: Every vision should reference a principle
• Show precedent: "Like how Duolingo does X" grounds the idea
• Sketch implementation: Vision without path is fantasy

For The Roadmap

• Ruthlessly prioritize: Can't do everything, pick the highest leverage
• Quick wins build momentum: Ship small things fast to prove progress
• Big bets need commitment: Don't start what you won't finish
• Cut the nice-to-haves: If it's not high impact, it's probably not worth doing

Workshop Facilitation Tips

1. Ask one question at a time - Don't overwhelm
2. Use multiple choice when possible - Easier to answer
3. Show your work - Share findings as you go
4. Pause for validation - "Does this match your experience?"
5. Be diplomatically brutal - Honest but constructive
6. Celebrate what's good - Don't just roast, acknowledge wins

Example Session

Claude: "I'm using the product-roast skill for a comprehensive product audit. Let me start by understanding the context. What app are we analyzing today?"

User: "GoalConnect - it's a habit tracker"

Claude: "Got it. Where's the codebase located?"

User: "/Users/me/GoalConnect"

Claude: "Thanks. Let me explore the codebase and understand the current state..."

[Claude explores codebase]

Claude: "I see this is a React + Express app with a mountaineering gamification theme. Before I dive into the roast, tell me - who are the primary users?"

[Continues workshop flow...]

Remember: The goal isn't to tear down - it's to reveal the path from "functional app" to "app people love." Every critique should point toward improvement. Every vision should be achievable. Every roadmap item should move the needle.