# Define Strategic Pillars > Derive 3–5 strategic pillars (high-level themes) from vision and North Star that structure and guide strategic goals and roadmap. Produces a strategic pillars document; persisted to docs. - Skill: `nesnilnehc/define-strategic-pillars` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add nesnilnehc/define-strategic-pillars` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/nesnilnehc/define-strategic-pillars/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Product & Planning - License: MIT - Author: nesnilnehc (https://skillmd.com/u/nesnilnehc) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/nesnilnehc/define-strategic-pillars --- # Skill: Define Strategic Pillars ## Purpose Derive **3–5 strategic pillars** (high-level themes) from **vision** and **North Star** that structure and guide strategic goals and roadmap. Produce a pillars document so goals and roadmap can be grouped under pillars. Does not define mission, vision, North Star, goals, milestones, or roadmap. **Pillar vs goal**: - **Pillar** = a direction of sustained investment (it does not get "finished"; an indispensable structural element, such as "reliable operation") - **Goal** = a concrete result to reach in that direction (you can tell whether it has been met, such as "rollback rate below 5%") A pillar is indispensable — drop one and the strategy has a structural gap. Goals change from stage to stage; pillars stay stable. --- ## Core Objective **Primary Goal**: Produce a user-confirmed strategic pillars document containing exactly 3–5 pillars (themes) aligned with vision and North Star, persisted to the project-agreed path. **Success Criteria** (ALL must be met): 1. ✅ **3–5 pillars documented**: Exactly 3–5 strategic pillars, each with a clear name and short description (what this pillar represents). 2. ✅ **Theme-level**: Each pillar is a high-level theme or a strategic direction of sustained investment, not a completable goal or a specific initiative. 3. ✅ **Aligned with vision**: Each pillar supports the vision; alignment is stated or evident. 4. ✅ **North Star connection**: At least one pillar clearly supports or frames the North Star; optional: brief "how this supports vision/NSM" per pillar. 5. ✅ **User confirmed**: User explicitly approved (e.g. "approved", "looks good", "proceed", or equivalent). 6. ✅ **Document persisted**: Written to agreed path (default `docs/project-overview/strategic-pillars.md` or per project norms). **Acceptance Test**: Can a reader see how each pillar frames the strategy and how goals or roadmap themes can be grouped under them? **Handoff Point**: When pillars are approved and persisted, hand off to `design-strategic-goals` (goals can map to pillars) or `define-roadmap` (roadmap themes can align to pillars); this skill does not define goals or roadmap. --- ## Scope Boundaries **This skill handles**: - Eliciting and documenting 3–5 strategic pillars (high-level themes). - Ensuring alignment with vision and North Star (read from `define-vision` / `define-north-star` outputs or existing docs). - Persisting to project-agreed path (default `docs/project-overview/strategic-pillars.md`). - Optional: per-pillar note on how it supports vision or North Star. **This skill does NOT handle**: - Defining mission, vision, or North Star (use `define-mission`, `define-vision`, `define-north-star`). - Defining strategic goals or milestones (use `design-strategic-goals`, `define-roadmap`). - Defining roadmap (use `define-roadmap`). --- ## Use Cases - **After vision and North Star**: Establish 3–5 pillars that structure how goals and roadmap are organized. - **Strategy structure**: Provide a stable set of themes so goals and initiatives can be grouped (e.g. "Product Excellence", "Customer Success", "Operational Efficiency"). - **Before or with goals**: Run before or in parallel with `design-strategic-goals` so goals can map to pillars. - **Fourth layer in strategy chain**: Run after mission, vision, and north star when building the full hierarchy (Mission → Vision → North Star → Pillars → Goals → Milestones → Roadmap). --- ## Behavior ### Interaction Policy - **Defaults**: Output path from project norms if present; otherwise `docs/project-overview/strategic-pillars.md`. Read vision and North Star from `docs/project-overview/` when available. - **Choice options**: If user has more than 5 candidate pillars, offer to prioritize or merge into 3–5; ask user to confirm the final set. - **Confirm**: Before overwriting an existing strategic-pillars file; before final persist. ### Execution Process 1. **Load vision and North Star**: Read from `docs/project-overview/vision.md` and `docs/project-overview/north-star.md` or user-provided summary. 2. **Elicit**: What 3–5 high-level themes or pillars would structure the strategy and guide goals/roadmap? 3. **Draft pillars**: Theme-level (e.g. "Customer First", "Operational Excellence"); not goals or initiatives. 4. **Check alignment**: Each pillar supports the vision; at least one clearly supports or frames the North Star. 5. **Persist**: Write to project-agreed path; create `docs/project-overview/` if missing. Optional: add "How this supports vision/NSM" per pillar. --- ## Input & Output **Input**: - **Required**: Vision; North Star (or paths); project context. - **Optional**: Mission; existing goals or pillars; constraints (e.g. org structure). **Output**: - **Artifact**: Strategic pillars document. - **Location**: `docs/project-overview/strategic-pillars.md` (or per project norms). - **Content**: List of 3–5 pillars (name, short description); optional mapping to vision/NSM. - **Lifecycle**: Living (updated when vision or strategy direction changes). --- ## Restrictions ### Hard Boundaries - Do NOT define mission, vision, North Star, goals, milestones, or roadmap in this skill. - Do NOT overwrite an existing strategic-pillars file without explicit user confirmation. ### Skill Boundaries (Avoid Overlap) **Do NOT do these (other skills handle them)**: - **Mission / vision / North Star**: Use `define-mission`, `define-vision`, `define-north-star`. - **Strategic goals**: Use `design-strategic-goals`; goals can map to pillars. - **Milestones / roadmap**: Use `define-roadmap`. **When to stop and hand off**: - User says "approved" or equivalent → Pillars complete; offer handoff to `design-strategic-goals` or `define-roadmap`. - User asks for goals or roadmap → Hand off to `design-strategic-goals` or `define-roadmap`. --- ## Self-Check ### Core Success Criteria (ALL must be met) - [ ] **3–5 pillars documented**: Each with name and short description. - [ ] **Theme-level**: Pillars are themes/directions, not goals or initiatives. - [ ] **Aligned with vision**: Each pillar supports the vision; alignment stated or evident. - [ ] **North Star connection**: At least one pillar supports or frames the North Star. - [ ] **User confirmed**: User said "approved", "looks good", "proceed", or equivalent. - [ ] **Document persisted**: Written to agreed path. ### Process Quality Checks - [ ] **Vision/NSM used**: Did I read or request vision and North Star before drafting pillars? - [ ] **No goals in pillars**: Did I avoid writing outcome goals (those belong in design-strategic-goals)? - [ ] **Pillars are indispensable**: Would dropping any one pillar leave the strategy with a structural gap? If not, that pillar is probably a goal or an initiative rather than a pillar. - [ ] **Pillars cannot be completed**: Does each pillar describe a sustained direction rather than a result that can be judged as achieved? ### Acceptance Test **Can a reader see how each pillar frames the strategy and how goals or roadmap themes can be grouped under them?** If NO: Clarify pillar descriptions and alignment. If YES: Pillars are complete. Proceed to handoff or stop. --- ## Examples ### Example 1: Vision and North Star exist, define pillars **Context**: Vision and North Star documents exist. User wants strategic pillars to structure goals and roadmap. **Process**: Read vision and north-star. Propose 3–5 pillars (e.g. "Discoverability", "Reusability", "Governance", "Ecosystem"). Add short description per pillar and how it supports vision/NSM. User confirms. Write to `docs/project-overview/strategic-pillars.md`. **Outcome**: Pillars persisted; handoff to `design-strategic-goals` or `define-roadmap`. ### Example 2: Goals already exist **Context**: Strategic goals document exists; user wants to add a pillars layer for structure. **Process**: Read vision, North Star, and existing goals. Propose pillars that group or frame the existing goals (e.g. cluster goals under 3–5 themes). User confirms. Write to `docs/project-overview/strategic-pillars.md`. Suggest updating goals doc to reference pillars if desired. **Outcome**: Pillars persisted; goals can be explicitly mapped to pillars in a later pass.