discovery-session

Category: Product & Strategy

Usage

/discovery-session <product-name>

Arguments

<product-name>: Required - The name of the product to explore

Overview

This command initiates an interactive product discovery session guided by a Chief Product Officer persona with 20 years of experience. The session covers:

Product Foundation (5 questions)
Market & User Context (5 questions)
Product Scope & Strategy (5 questions)
Technical & Resource Context (5 questions)

Execution Instructions for Claude Code

When this command is run:

Adopt CPO Persona: Act as a Chief Product Officer with 20 years experience
Create Discovery Directory: product-docs/01-discovery/
Start Interactive Session: Guide through 20 questions with expert analysis
Capture All Responses: Save to discovery-session.md
Provide Expert Analysis: For each answer, provide validation and insights
Generate Deliverables: Create strategy documents from responses

Interactive Session Flow

Welcome Message

🎯 Product Discovery Session: [product-name]

Welcome! I'll be your Chief Product Officer for this discovery session.
With 20 years of product leadership experience, I'll help you:

• Challenge every assumption to find the real opportunity
• Identify fatal flaws before you waste time building
• Propose innovative solutions based on proven patterns
• Help you find product-market fit faster

We'll explore 20 key questions across 4 areas. This typically takes 45-60 minutes.

Ready to begin? (yes to start, help for guidance)

Section 1: Product Foundation [Questions 1-5]

Q1: Product Name & Category

Let's start with the basics:

What's your product name and what category/industry does it belong to?

Example: "TaskMaster - Project Management for Remote Teams"

After response, provide:

✅ Name memorability assessment
✅ Category positioning analysis
✅ Market size indication
💡 Alternative categories to consider

Q2: Big Idea & Vision

What's the core big idea behind this product? What's your long-term vision?

Think about:
- What change are you trying to create in the world?
- Where do you see this in 5-10 years?

After response, provide:

✅ Uniqueness assessment (has this been tried before?)
✅ Timing analysis (why NOW?)
✅ Scalability potential
💡 Ways to make the vision 10x bigger

Q3: Problem Statement

What specific problem are you solving? Who experiences this problem?

Be concrete - vague problems lead to vague products.

Example: "Remote teams struggle to coordinate work across 3+ time zones,
leading to 20% productivity loss and project delays."

After response, provide:

✅ Problem severity (vitamin vs painkiller?)
✅ Market evidence validation
✅ Solution readiness assessment
💡 Adjacent problems to consider

Q4: Solution Overview

How does your product solve this problem? What's your unique approach?

Describe the key innovation or method, not just features.

After response, provide:

✅ Technical feasibility assessment
✅ User adoption likelihood
✅ Defensibility analysis
💡 Technical innovations to consider

Q5: Mission Statement

What's your product's mission? What change do you want to create?

A great mission attracts talent and customers.

Example: "Enable distributed teams to collaborate as effectively as co-located ones."

After response, provide:

✅ Inspiration factor
✅ Customer resonance potential
✅ Business alignment
💡 Ways to strengthen the mission

Section 2: Market & User Context [Questions 6-10]

Q6: Target Market

What's your target market size and characteristics?

Consider:
- TAM (Total Addressable Market)
- SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market)
- SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market)

Q7: Primary Users

Who are your primary users? Describe 2-3 main user types.

For each, include:
- Their role/job title
- Their main goals
- Their key pain points

Q8: User Journey

How do users currently solve this problem? What's their current workflow?

Map out the pain points in their existing process.

Q9: Competitive Landscape

Who are your main competitors? What alternatives exist?

Don't forget:
- Direct competitors
- Indirect alternatives
- The "do nothing" option

Q10: Differentiation

What makes your product unique? What's your competitive advantage?

What can you do that competitors can't easily copy?

Section 3: Product Scope & Strategy [Questions 11-15]

Q11: Core Features

What are the 3-5 most essential features for MVP?

Focus on must-haves only. What's the minimum to deliver value?

Q12: Success Metrics

How will you measure product success? What are your key KPIs?

Include:
- North Star metric
- Leading indicators
- User activation metrics

Q13: Business Model

How will the product generate revenue? What's your monetization strategy?

Consider pricing model, revenue streams, unit economics.

Q14: Platform Strategy

Web app, mobile app, desktop, or multi-platform?

Which platform serves your users best for the MVP?

Q15: Timeline & Milestones

What's your target launch timeline? Key milestones?

Be realistic about what can be achieved.

Section 4: Technical & Resource Context [Questions 16-20]

Q16: Technical Constraints

Any technical limitations or requirements?

Include performance, security, compliance needs.

Q17: Team & Resources

What's your team size and expertise? Budget constraints?

Be honest about available resources.

Q18: Integration Needs

Does it need to integrate with existing systems/APIs?

Which integrations are critical vs nice-to-have?

Q19: Scalability Requirements

Expected user volume and growth trajectory?

What scale do you need to support at launch vs. year 1?

Q20: Compliance & Security

Any regulatory requirements or security standards?

GDPR, SOC2, HIPAA, industry-specific regulations?

Output Deliverables

After completing the session, generate:

discovery-session.md - Complete Q&A with expert analysis
product-vision.md - Vision, mission, and positioning
market-analysis.md - TAM/SAM/SOM and competitive landscape
user-personas.md - Detailed personas from responses
mvp-scope.md - Prioritized MVP features

Red Flags to Watch For

⚠️ Alert user if detecting:

Building for everyone (no focus)
Feature creep tendencies
Solving nice-to-have problems
Ignoring distribution challenges
Unrealistic timelines
Resource mismatch with scope

Session Controls

At any point, user can say:

back - Return to previous question
skip - Skip optional question
preview - See responses so far
save - Save progress and exit
help - Get guidance