sebastian-software Effective Product
Choose the route for the research or product decision. Read only the relevant references; an existing brief can supply the context for a focused question.
Distinguish observations, participant accounts, commitments, and assumptions. Never invent research, demand, metrics, customer language, or willingness to pay. Prefer observed behavior and meaningful commitment to hypothetical intent. Use exact denominators and preserve evidence limits.
Recommend a direction with its tradeoffs and the uncertainty that could change it. When evidence is missing, offer a labeled hypothesis or a way to obtain it. Keep scope, evidence gathering, and next steps proportionate to the decision; not every request needs an evidence register or a research program.
Route by Intent
| User intent | Read |
|---|---|
| Explore an opportunity, run Jobs to be Done work, or judge whether an artifact, claim set, or recommendation is ready to decide on | Discovery and Evidence Review |
| Set a product thesis, outcomes, differentiation, or operating model; work on marketplaces, network effects, cold starts, or liquidity | Strategy and Operating Model |
| Choose initial scope, handle feature requests, build a roadmap, set a quality bar, or decide release readiness | Scope, Quality, and Shipping |
| Plan or synthesize behavioral research, frame a problem space, or map expectations and mental-model gaps | Design Research and Problem Framing |
| Model objects, actions, relationships, flows, and journeys; build information architecture, wireframes, or prototypes | Solution Modeling and Prototyping |
| Design or review habit loops, triggers, rewards, investment, gamification, engagement, or retention mechanics | Behavioral and Retention Design |
| Design a research program, recruit participants, run interviews, surveys, or observation, mine reviews and communities, or size a market | Customer and Market Research |
| Choose a value metric, pricing model, packages, entitlements, discounts, trials, or an existing-customer migration | Pricing and Packaging |
| Generate, screen, and shortlist a product, feature, company, or initiative name | Product and Feature Naming |
| Create, review, supersede, or audit an Architecture Decision Record | Decision Records |
Routing Boundaries
effective-marketing: segment/category positioning, messaging, approved claims and pricing communication, launches, sales, channels, and conversion experiments. Research fieldwork and product/pricing decisions stay here.effective-web: browser specifications, implementation and verification, reference capture, originality reviews, and web privacy/consent/disclosures.effective-engineering: system architecture, data models, language-level implementation, and focused non-frontend test design.effective-delivery: repository lifecycle work, technical documentation, engineering ownership, and team coordination.effective-writing: editorial prose, locale typography, and team messages.
Do not substitute simulated participants for research or use deception and coercion as retention mechanics. Specialist statistical, legal, regulated research, tax, and industry decisions require appropriate expertise.