yannickYamo Modern Product Operating Model
"A modern product operating model starts with clear strategic intent, continuously discovers customer problems, turns them into value-based bets, structures solutions into product blocks and features, executes with tight GTM and measurement loops, and constantly feeds learning back into strategy."
This is a collection of 6 composable skills for product leadership. Each skill is standalone but designed to work together as a complete operating system.
Quick Start
Install the skill you need:
# Strategy: Where to play and how to win
npx skills add yannickYamo/skills/product-strategy
# Discovery: What problems matter and what solutions might work
npx skills add yannickYamo/skills/product-discovery
# Architecture: What are we building and why now
npx skills add yannickYamo/skills/product-architecture
# Delivery: How do we ship, measure, and learn
npx skills add yannickYamo/skills/product-delivery
# AI-Native: Building products with AI at the core
npx skills add yannickYamo/skills/ai-native-product
# Leadership: Operating as Director/CPO
npx skills add yannickYamo/skills/product-leadership
Install the complete collection:
npx skills add yannickYamo/skills/product-strategy
npx skills add yannickYamo/skills/product-discovery
npx skills add yannickYamo/skills/product-architecture
npx skills add yannickYamo/skills/product-delivery
npx skills add yannickYamo/skills/ai-native-product
npx skills add yannickYamo/skills/product-leadership
The Four Systems
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ STRATEGY SYSTEM │
│ "Where do we play and how do we win?" │
│ Cadence: Quarterly │ Skill: product-strategy │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ DISCOVERY SYSTEM │
│ "What problems matter and what solutions might work?" │
│ Cadence: Weekly │ Skill: product-discovery │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ PRODUCT SYSTEM │
│ "What are we building and why now?" │
│ Cadence: Sprint-level │ Skill: product-architecture │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ DELIVERY SYSTEM │
│ "How do we ship, measure, and learn?" │
│ Cadence: Continuous │ Skill: product-delivery │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
↑ │
└──── Learning feeds back ─────┘
Overlay skills:
ai-native-product— Modifications for AI-powered productsproduct-leadership— Operating at Director/CPO level
Which Skill Do I Need?
| I want to... | Use this skill |
|---|---|
| Define product strategy | product-strategy |
| Create a strategy canvas | product-strategy |
| Define ICP and Anti-ICP | product-strategy |
| Set pricing strategy | product-strategy |
| Choose GTM motion (PLG vs SLG) | product-strategy |
| Structure strategic bets | product-strategy |
| Set up weekly discovery rhythm | product-discovery |
| Build an Opportunity Solution Tree | product-discovery |
| Run assumption tests | product-discovery |
| Create interview snapshots | product-discovery |
| Structure product into blocks | product-architecture |
| Create a bet backlog | product-architecture |
| Build a roadmap | product-architecture |
| Write solution briefs | product-architecture |
| Plan staged rollout | product-delivery |
| Set up metrics hierarchy | product-delivery |
| Run bet retrospectives | product-delivery |
| Execute GTM launch | product-delivery |
| Build AI agent products | ai-native-product |
| Manage agency-control tradeoffs | ai-native-product |
| Set up continuous calibration | ai-native-product |
| Lead product organization | product-leadership |
| Manage product portfolio | product-leadership |
| Communicate to board/executives | product-leadership |
Core Philosophy
What This Framework Believes
- Strategy is choice, not documentation — If you haven't said no to something, you don't have a strategy
- Prototypes over PRDs — A working prototype communicates more than any slide deck
- Outcomes over outputs — Teams are accountable for results, not deliverables
- Learning velocity is the meta-metric — The team that learns fastest wins
- AI is baseline, not bonus — Coming to a meeting without AI-assisted prep is like coming without reading the doc
- Focus is a superpower — 1-3 P0 priorities maximum
What This Framework Rejects
- PM Theater: Polishing documents nobody reads
- Decision by committee: Consensus produces mediocre products
- Annual planning fiction: You don't know what to build a year from now
- Process over product: If process doesn't serve the user, kill it
- Feature factories: Building what stakeholders request vs. solving real problems
The Learning Loop
The systems connect in a continuous learning loop:
STRATEGY defines where to play and how to win
↓
DISCOVERY finds problems worth solving
↓
PRODUCT structures bets and roadmap
↓
DELIVERY ships and measures
↓
LEARNING feeds back to STRATEGY
↑
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
Information Flow
| From | To | What Flows |
|---|---|---|
| Strategy | Discovery | ICP, JTBD priorities, strategic bets |
| Discovery | Product | Validated opportunities, solution candidates |
| Product | Delivery | Bets, solution briefs, success metrics |
| Delivery | Discovery | Usage data, feedback, outcome evidence |
| Delivery | Strategy | Market learning, competitive signals, bet results |
Three Operating Modes
| Dimension | 0→1 Mode | Scaling Mode | AI-Native Mode |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategy refresh | Weekly pivots | Quarterly | + Agency-control decisions |
| Team structure | 4-6 builders | Multiple trios | + ML engineers |
| Block focus | Single block | Multi-block | + Calibration metrics |
| Discovery | Founder-led | Systematic | + Observe AI interactions |
| Delivery | Ship daily | Staged rollout | + Agency graduation |
| Planning | 4-6 weeks | 12-18 months | + Continuous calibration |
Skill Collection
Core Skills
| Skill | System | What It Contains |
|---|---|---|
product-strategy |
Strategy | Mission, ICP, JTBD, Positioning, Pricing, GTM, Bets |
product-discovery |
Discovery | Continuous discovery, OST, Assumption testing |
product-architecture |
Product | Blocks, Bet backlog, Roadmap, Solution briefs |
product-delivery |
Delivery | Dual-track, Staged rollout, Measurement, GTM execution |
Overlay Skills
| Skill | Purpose | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
ai-native-product |
AI product development | Building products with AI at the core |
product-leadership |
Director/CPO operating | Leading product organizations |
Templates Included
Each skill includes ready-to-use templates:
product-strategy:
- Strategy Canvas (1-page)
- ICP Scorecard
- Strategic Bet
- Positioning Statement
product-discovery:
- Interview Snapshot
- Opportunity Solution Tree
- Assumption Test
product-architecture:
- Block Portfolio
- Bet Backlog
- Solution Brief
product-delivery:
- Rollout Checklist
- Metrics Hierarchy
- Bet Retrospective
ai-native-product:
- Agency Graduation Checklist
- Calibration Plan
product-leadership:
- Portfolio Review
- Board Metrics
- Operating Rhythm
Using with Claude
For strategy work:
"Help me create a strategy canvas for [product]"
"Define ICP and Anti-ICP for [market]"
"Structure 3 strategic bets for [objective]"
For discovery work:
"Set up my weekly discovery rhythm"
"Build an OST for [outcome metric]"
"Design an assumption test for [hypothesis]"
For product architecture:
"Help me structure [product] into capability blocks"
"Convert this opportunity into a bet"
"Write a solution brief for [feature]"
For delivery:
"Plan a staged rollout for [feature]"
"Set up metrics hierarchy for [product]"
"Run a bet retrospective"
For AI products:
"I'm building an AI agent — what's different?"
"Help me plan agency graduation for [feature]"
"Set up continuous calibration"
For leadership:
"How do I allocate resources across products?"
"Prepare board-level metrics"
"Design my weekly operating rhythm"
Sources & Influences
This framework synthesizes insights from:
- Teresa Torres — Continuous Discovery Habits, Opportunity Solution Trees
- Marty Cagan — INSPIRED, EMPOWERED, Product Operating Model
- Richard Rumelt — Good Strategy Bad Strategy, Strategy Kernel
- April Dunford — Obviously Awesome, Positioning
- Gibson Biddle — Product strategy frameworks
- Lenny Rachitsky — PM research and interviews
- Aishwarya Goel & Kiriti Gavini — CCCD, Agency-Control Trade-off
About
Author: Yannick Maurice
Background: 13+ years in product leadership across semiconductors, LiDAR, autonomous vehicles, energy systems, and AI
Philosophy: Learning velocity over planning perfection
License
MIT License — use freely, adapt to your context, share improvements.
Modern Product Operating Model v1.0 — January 2026