# Opportunity Brief > Runs a structured product-discovery interview and publishes a two-page Opportunity Brief to Confluence, covering business objective, customer, problem, success metric, alternatives, assumptions, and open questions. - Skill: `sdiamante13/opportunity-brief` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add sdiamante13/opportunity-brief` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/sdiamante13/opportunity-brief/raw - Safety review: CAUTION (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS) - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Product & Planning, PRDs & Specs, User Research - Tags: Cagan, Confluence, Decision Log, Interview, Opportunity Assessment, Product Discovery - Author: SDiamante13 (https://skillmd.com/u/sdiamante13) - Updated: 2026-08-22 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/sdiamante13/opportunity-brief --- # Opportunity Brief — Cagan interview ## Prerequisites - **jira plugin** (required, hard dependency): `atlassian-api.sh` handles markdown→ADF conversion AND emits the Page Properties macro that the Decisions log index depends on. Without it, Page Properties render as a plain code block and aggregation in Confluence will not work. Locate the helper path with `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/locate-jira-helper.sh` — it prints the absolute path on stdout or exits 1 with a user-friendly install message. Never hardcode the path. **There is no markdown-only fallback; abort if the helper is missing.** - **Atlassian credentials for the helper** (only needed for commands that hit the network — adding labels, updating pages). If missing, the helper prompts you to run `"$HELPER" setup`, which interactively writes `~/.config/secrets.json` with mode 0600. `markdown-to-adf` (the pure conversion step) works without credentials. - **Atlassian MCP** (inherited from marketplace-level `.mcp.json`, authorized to `fbinv.atlassian.net`). Tools used: `searchConfluenceUsingCql`, `getConfluencePage`, `createConfluencePage`, `updateConfluencePage`. - **Git user.email configured** — used to derive the pseudonymous `author_hash` for Page Properties and telemetry. - **`jq`** — used by helper scripts for JSON parsing. Present on the marketplace's recommended toolchain. Load these references before the first user-facing line: - [references/persona.md](../../references/persona.md) — coach voice, pushback style, citation boundaries. - [references/cagan-methodology.md](../../references/cagan-methodology.md) — the four questions, the four risks, Fishbowl framing. - [references/interview-tactics.md](../../references/interview-tactics.md) — one-question-at-a-time, AskUserQuestion use, handling "I don't know." - [references/artifact-templates/opportunity-brief.md](../../references/artifact-templates/opportunity-brief.md) — markdown skeleton for the final artifact. - [references/confluence-destinations.md](../../references/confluence-destinations.md) — default destinations + per-project overrides. - [references/decision-log.md](../../references/decision-log.md) — decision page structure + how to link bidirectionally. ## Step 1 — Session setup Generate a session ID (`uuidgen` or `date +%s`-suffixed) and create the scratch directory: ``` ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_DATA}/sessions//draft.md ``` Initialize the scratch with the artifact-template skeleton. All interview answers accumulate here during the session. If `$ARGUMENTS` references an existing Confluence draft page ID or a scratch session ID, load that instead and resume. ## Step 2 — Frame the session One sentence, in-persona: > *"We'll work through a short set of questions — customer, problem, outcome, and what we know or don't — and turn it into a two-page brief published to Confluence. I'll ask one thing at a time; say 'I don't know' any time and we'll record it as something to learn."* Then ask Step-3 Question 1. ## Step 3 — The interview Ask in order. **One question per turn.** Use `AskUserQuestion` when answers enumerate cleanly (see tactics below). Use open text otherwise. After each answer, write it to the scratch file in the appropriate section, then ask the next question. ### Q1 — Business objective *"What Fishbowl business objective is this work serving?"* Open text. Listen for: revenue, retention, cost reduction, strategic differentiation, compliance, technical-debt reduction. If the answer is hand-wavy ("it'll be cool"), push back politely: *"That's a reason to build it, but what does Fishbowl get? How does this change the business?"* ### Q2 — Customer (specifically) *"Who specifically is this for?"* Multi-choice starting point (AskUserQuestion): - "A named customer / customer segment I can describe" - "An internal user role (support, warehouse ops, finance, etc.)" - "A new market we're not serving yet" - "I don't know yet — help me think about who" On "I don't know" → coach per [references/interview-tactics.md](../../references/interview-tactics.md): suggest who might know (customer success, support, sales), record as research next-step, move on. ### Q3 — Problem from the customer's perspective *"What can't they do today — in their words, not yours?"* Open text. Listen for workaround descriptions ("they copy-paste data from…", "they call us because…"). If the answer is framed as "they need ," push: *"That's a solution. What's the problem underneath it?"* ### Q4 — Success metric *"How will we know this worked? What's the metric that should move, by how much, by when?"* AskUserQuestion: - "A specific business KPI I can name (revenue, retention, usage rate, etc.)" - "Leading indicator only (feature adoption, task completion time)" - "Customer-satisfaction signal (NPS, support tickets)" - "I don't know — help me pick" Push back on "ship it" as a success metric. Shipping is not success. ### Q5 — Current alternatives *"What do people do today when they hit this problem?"* Open text. Look for: manual workaround, competitor tool, internal tool, nothing. Missing alternatives are a flag — it might mean the problem is not real. ### Q6 — Assumptions and risks Ask: *"What are the biggest assumptions we're making? Which would collapse the whole thing if wrong?"* Then walk Cagan's four risks with the user: - **Value risk** — will customers use / pay? - **Usability risk** — can they figure it out? - **Feasibility risk** — can we build it? - **Business viability risk** — does it work for the business (legal, financial, brand)? Record each as a bullet with a one-line hypothesis. ### Q7 — What we don't know yet *"What would you need to learn before you'd bet engineering cycles on this?"* Open text. Capture each unknown as a bullet. Do not let the user say "nothing" unless all prior answers were confident — if they hand-waved on Q2–Q5, name those as unknowns here. ### Q8 — Stop condition After Q7, check: does the brief have any bullets in "what we don't know yet"? - **If yes**: ask whether to (a) proceed to publish as-is (status: `research-pending`), or (b) accept a gap via decision-log and proceed. - **If no**: the brief advances to `ready-for-prd` status. ## Step 4 — Handling "I don't know" / "skip" Do not silently skip. See [references/interview-tactics.md](../../references/interview-tactics.md) for the full playbook. Summary: 1. Name the gap: *"OK — let's record this as a research next-step."* 2. Coach on who to ask: suggest 1-2 concrete sources (support, a named team, a data source). 3. Offer the decision-log path if the user wants to proceed without filling the gap: *"If you want to move forward on this before knowing, we'll record that as a decision with the risk you're accepting."* Use [references/decision-log.md](../../references/decision-log.md) to create the decision page (see Step 6). ## Step 5 — End-of-interview summary Show the user the full draft as markdown. Ask if anything needs edit before publishing. ## Step 6 — Decision-log entries (if any gaps accepted) For each research gap the user chose to accept instead of resolve: 1. Create a Confluence page under the *Decisions log* parent (see [references/decision-log.md](../../references/decision-log.md)). Title: `DEC-YYYY-MM-DD-`. 2. Populate Page Properties: `decision_id`, `date`, `author_hash`, `artifact_refs` (empty for now — filled after brief publish), `gap_category` (pick from enum based on which Cagan question was skipped), `risk_accepted` (the user's own words), `re_evaluate_by` (today + 30 days), `outcome` (empty). 3. The decision pages will be linked to the brief in Step 7, after the brief gets its page ID. ## Step 7 — Confluence publish Look up the destination from settings (default: PE › *Product requirements* ID 51642542). Show the destination explicitly: > *"I'll publish this to PE › Product requirements with labels `discovery` and `draft`. OK to proceed? (y / change destination / N)"* On yes: 1. Render the scratch markdown to ADF using the jira plugin's helper. Resolve the helper path via the shared locator: ```bash HELPER="$(${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/locate-jira-helper.sh)" || exit 1 ADF_BODY="$("$HELPER" markdown-to-adf < draft.md)" ``` Never hardcode the helper path — the locator handles the expected sibling layout and non-standard install fallbacks. **If either step fails, STOP and report the error to the user verbatim. Do NOT fall back to sending markdown through `createConfluencePage` with `contentFormat: markdown` — that path cannot emit the Page Properties macro and will silently produce a broken page.** If the failure is a credentials error from the helper, point the user at `"$HELPER" setup` and wait for them to complete it before retrying. 2. Create the page: `mcp__plugin_atlassian_atlassian__createConfluencePage` with `contentFormat: "adf"` and the ADF JSON from step 1 as `body`. Capture the returned page ID. 3. Add the `discovery` and `draft` labels via the helper: ```bash "$HELPER" confluence-label-add discovery draft ``` The MCP `createConfluencePage` tool does not accept labels, so this step is mandatory — without it, the Page Properties Report macro's label-based filter cannot find the page. 4. For each decision page from Step 6: update its `artifact_refs` field with the new brief page ID and add a bidirectional link in the brief page's "Decisions accepted during discovery" section. On "change destination": ask for the new parent page ID, save it in the settings file for next time. On N: keep the scratch, print the scratch path, and exit. ## Step 8 — Finalize or leave as draft Ask: *"Ready to finalize this brief (remove the `draft` label) or keep iterating?"* On finalize: remove the `draft` label. Status → `research-pending` if unknowns exist, `ready-for-prd` otherwise. Clean up scratch directory. On keep iterating: leave the `draft` label. Keep scratch (so session can resume). ## Step 9 — Sentiment + telemetry Before fully exiting, ask once: > *"Quick sentiment check — was this session helpful / mixed / not useful / painful? (skip ok)"* Then: *"Anything specific you'd change? (Enter to skip)"* Log the install event (if first run) and the session event via MCP `updateConfluencePage` per [references/telemetry.md](../../references/telemetry.md). Skill name = `opportunity-brief`; artifact type = `opportunity-brief`; populate the full field list there. If `telemetry.enabled == false`, skip the sentiment prompt and all log writes. If `tracker_page_id` is missing from settings, print the one-line note from [references/telemetry.md](../../references/telemetry.md) and continue. ## Never - Never bombard with questions. One per turn. - Never write a cold Cagan question without first loading the persona and methodology references. - Never impersonate Marty Cagan or use first-person framings that imply you authored his work. See [references/persona.md](../../references/persona.md). - Never proceed silently past a gap. Either record it in "what we don't know yet" or create a decision page. - Never publish without explicit user confirmation of the destination. - Never fall back to sending markdown directly through the Atlassian MCP `createConfluencePage` when the helper's `markdown-to-adf` fails. The markdown path cannot emit the Page Properties macro and will produce a silently broken page. If the helper is unavailable, stop and tell the user.