Experiment Ideas

Experiment Ideas

How This Works

Most idea-brainstorm output is five generic tactics that could belong to any company — "post more on LinkedIn," "run a referral program." This skill grounds ideation in what's actually known: who the ICP is, what alternatives buyers compare against, and why now matters, so every idea is specific enough to differentiate from what a status-quo competitor is already doing. It doesn't write anything durable — generated ideas are disposable brainstorm output, not a company fact — and it hands off explicitly to experiment-doc (pmm-execution), which is where a chosen idea gets pressure-tested before it becomes a real test.

Step 0 — Load brain Sections 1 (Product), 2 (ICP), 3 (Alternatives), 5 (Market Context) if present, and guardrails from /context/meta-patterns.md.

Step 1 — Clarify constraints: budget or resource ceiling, channels already tried (and what happened), how many ideas wanted (default 5).

Step 2 — Generate ideas: each with Channel, Core Message, Why It Works (tied to ICP or market energy state when brain data exists), Cost Efficiency.

Step 3 — Self-check each idea against the ICP and named alternatives — an idea indistinguishable from what a status-quo competitor already does gets flagged, not silently kept.

Step 4 — Rank by effort-vs-impact, not generation order.

Step 5 — Learning Close: log the session to /context/skill-sessions.md.

Trigger

• When: Brainstorming marketing or growth ideas, looking for low-budget/high-impact tactics, exploring channels before committing budget, or any "what should we try" moment before a specific hypothesis exists.

• Not for: Pressure-testing a single idea you've already picked → experiment-doc (pmm-execution), run this skill first only if you don't yet have a specific hypothesis to test. Rewriting an already-set positioning into segment-specific value-prop copy → value-prop-statements (pmm-growth), run this skill first only if you need raw campaign ideas, not copy variants of an existing statement. A full campaign brief with calendar, audience, and metrics → gaccs-brief. Channel or motion selection for a launch already scoped against ICP deal economics → gtm-motions. Writing the actual positioning statement or messaging hierarchy → positioning-messaging.

• Example prompts:

  • "Give me 5 marketing ideas for this launch"
  • "What are some cheap ways to get in front of our ICP?"
  • "Brainstorm growth tactics for Q4"
  • "We have almost no budget — what should we try?"
  • "Creative campaign ideas for [product]"

Inputs

• Args: Number of ideas wanted (default 5), budget or resource ceiling, channels already tried and what happened.
• Defaults: No brain → ask directly for product, target segment, and constraints before generating. Brain exists → load silently, ask only for constraints not already on file.
• Context keys:
  • /foundation/brain.md — read Sections 1, 2, 3, 5 if present. Never written to — this skill produces no durable brain output.
  • /context/meta-patterns.md — guardrails, read at Step 0.

Pre-flight

• Load /foundation/brain.md if it exists — Sections 1, 2, 3, 5, silently.
• If /context/meta-patterns.md exists and a weak-idea pattern has fired 2+ times in prior sessions logged there (e.g., ideas keep skipping the cost-efficiency rationale, or keep repeating the same channel), surface it once before Step 2.
• If no brain found: surface once, non-blocking — "No brain found. I can still generate ideas from what you tell me directly, but they'll be more generic without ICP and alternatives context. Continuing."

Steps

Step 1 — Clarify constraints. Ask in one message: budget or resource ceiling (if any), which channels have already been tried and what happened, how many ideas wanted (default 5 if not specified). If brain Sections 1–3 are populated, skip re-asking product/ICP/alternatives — state what's loaded instead.

Step 2 — Generate ideas. For each idea, produce all four fields:

• Channel — the primary marketing channel (social, content, partnerships, community, email, product-led, etc.)
• Core Message — the actual message, in language the ICP would recognize, not a category-level description
• Why It Works — tied to a specific ICP trait, market energy state (if brain Section 5 loaded), or named alternative's weakness — not a generic engagement claim
• Cost Efficiency — a concrete reason the tactic is cheap or resource-light for this specific team's constraints, not an assertion ("low cost because it's organic" is not concrete; "no paid spend, ~3 hours/week from one person, reuses existing customer interview transcripts" is)

Ideas must be differentiated from each other — five variations on the same channel fail this step and get regenerated.

Step 3 — Self-check against ICP and alternatives. For each idea, ask: would a buyer who already uses [named alternative] find this message meaningfully different from what that alternative already says? An idea that fails this test is flagged [GENERIC — doesn't differentiate from status quo] rather than silently delivered as-is.

Step 4 — Rank by effort vs. impact. Order the final list by realistic effort-to-impact ratio for this team's stated constraints, not by generation order. State the ranking rationale in one line per idea.

Step 5 — Learning Close. Append a row to /context/skill-sessions.md:

skill: experiment-ideas
session_date: {{date}}
pattern: "{{what surprised you, a recurring weak-idea pattern, or 'none'
  if nothing notable happened — never skip the row}}"
source: {{surprised/wrong/missing/n.v.t.}}

State explicitly which idea(s), if any, look strong enough to send to experiment-doc for real pressure-testing — this skill's output is a starting list, not a validated plan.

Outputs

• A ranked list of ideas (Channel / Core Message / Why It Works / Cost Efficiency each), delivered in chat only — this skill writes no output file of its own
• Session logged to /context/skill-sessions.md
• An explicit handoff line naming which idea(s) are strong candidates for experiment-doc
• External side effects: n.v.t.
• Next skill: check next-skill-map.md for "After experiment-ideas" and surface that prompt.

Verification

• Every idea has all four required fields, none left implicit
• No two ideas share a channel with substantively the same message
• Every Cost Efficiency claim names a specific reason, not an assertion
• Every idea has passed or been flagged by the alternatives self-check
• Final list is ranked by effort-vs-impact, not left in generation order
• Session logged with all four fields, pattern: none written explicitly if nothing notable happened — the row is never skipped

Do Not Use For

• experiment-doc (pmm-execution) — when the task is pressure-testing one specific idea with ICE scoring and statistical rigor, not generating the raw list it draws from. Run this skill first only if no specific hypothesis exists yet.

• value-prop-statements (pmm-growth) — when the task is rewriting an already-set positioning statement into segment- or channel-specific copy variants, not generating new raw campaign concepts.

• gaccs-brief — when the task is a full campaign brief with calendar, audience detail, and success metrics, not a raw idea list

• gtm-motions — when the task is selecting the channel/motion stack for a launch already scoped against ICP deal economics, not brainstorming ideas pre-scope

• positioning-messaging — when the task is writing the actual positioning statement or messaging hierarchy itself, not generating campaign concepts

Operating Rules

1. Load brain first. Don't re-ask what Sections 1–3 already answer.
2. Never deliver a generic idea unflagged. If it fails the alternatives self-check, mark it — don't quietly include it as if it passed.
3. Every idea needs all four fields. A channel with no concrete cost-efficiency reason isn't a finished idea.
4. Rank before delivering. Generation order is not a prioritization.
5. Write nothing to the brain. Ideas are disposable; only a pressure-tested experiment (via experiment-doc) earns durability.
6. Name the handoff explicitly. Don't leave "what's next" implicit — state which idea(s) are strong enough for experiment-doc.

Quality Gate

Commands

/brainstorm [product or context]

Run full flow: constraints → generate → self-check → rank → handoff.

/more

Generate additional ideas beyond the initial set, using the same constraints and brain context already established this session.