Context: Discover Opportunities and generate hypotheses by combining business analysis (BMC/VPC/market) with user analysis (JTBD/pains/gains). Outputs Opportunity files and hypothesis files.
Required Skills [LOAD BEFORE EXECUTION]
- [LOAD IF NOT ACTIVE]
hypothesis-discipline— hypothesis lifecycle, evidence, and stopping conditions - [LOAD IF NOT ACTIVE]
product-principles— Opportunity hierarchy, 4 Risks, and framing rules
Conditional Skills [LOAD WHEN TRIGGERED]
- WHEN the request or available evidence raises a business-model, market, or viability decision: [LOAD IF NOT ACTIVE]
business-context
Delegate code analysis when a separate repository reading can change the discovery decision.
Execution Decision Flow
1. Context Assessment
Input: Use the path or text supplied with the explicit skill invocation. If no input was supplied and the target cannot be inferred unambiguously, ask for it.
Assess the starting point:
| Situation | Action |
|---|---|
| Greenfield (no existing product) | Gather the business and user evidence needed to frame the requested outcome |
| Existing codebase | Invoke codebase-analyzer when current behavior can change the Opportunity framing |
| Specific market opportunity | Focus on market analysis + VPC |
| User feedback / support tickets | Focus on user analysis + journey mapping |
Vision exists (docs/product/vision.md) |
Align discovery with Product Outcomes |
2. Business Context Analysis
When business context can change the Opportunity decision, select the relevant business-context framework:
- BMC: Understand the business model — especially Customer Segments, Value Propositions, Revenue Streams
- VPC: Map Customer Profile (jobs/pains/gains) to Value Map (products/pain relievers/gain creators)
- Market Analysis: TAM/SAM/SOM, competitive landscape, market gaps
Read the selected business-context reference for its decision boundary and evidence requirements.
Web search: Use web search for market research — industry reports, competitor analysis, trend data. Market research benefits from hypothesis context (unlike code analysis).
3. User Context Analysis
- Personas: Reference existing personas (
docs/product/personas/) or delegate to recipe-persona for full persona work - JTBD: Identify functional, social, and emotional jobs from VPC Customer Profile
- Journey Mapping: Create a journey map using
references/journey-template.mdwhen sequence or handoff evidence is needed to locate the Opportunity
4. Opportunity Identification
Synthesize business and user analysis into Opportunities:
- Draft Opportunity files using product-principles skill
references/opportunity-template.md - 3+ Solutions Test: Use the ability to identify meaningfully different Solutions as a diagnostic. If the framing supports fewer than three, report that signal without generating filler alternatives
- Link Opportunities to Product Outcomes (if vision exists)
- Assess impact (frequency x severity x breadth)
Present Opportunities to the user for the product-scope decision:
- Opportunity summaries with impact assessment
- Evidence supporting each Opportunity
- 3+ Solutions test results
- Recommended priority order
End the current turn with the Opportunity summaries as the workflow output. Generate hypotheses only for the Opportunities the user confirms in a later turn.
5. Hypothesis Generation
For confirmed Opportunities, generate hypotheses:
- Draft hypothesis files using hypothesis-discipline skill
references/hypothesis-template.md - Assign appropriate level (outcome / opportunity / solution / assumption)
- Set initial confidence scores (typically 0-2 for new hypotheses)
- Define a stopping condition; add a time budget or deadline only when it changes the validation decision
- Suggest validation methods
6. File Output
Write the confirmed Opportunities and their decision-relevant hypotheses. Create only the artifacts produced by this discovery:
- Opportunity files in
docs/discovery/opportunities/ - Hypothesis files in
docs/discovery/hypotheses/ - Journey maps in
docs/discovery/journeys/when journey evidence was required
Present the created hypotheses, proposed validation methods or stopping conditions, and recommended priority.
Sub-agent Usage
| Agent | When | Why (context separation benefit) |
|---|---|---|
| codebase-analyzer | Current implementation can change the Opportunity or persona decision | Objective fact-gathering without hypothesis bias |
Scope Boundaries
Included: Opportunity discovery, hypothesis generation, market research, journey mapping Not included: Hypothesis validation (→ recipe-validate), PRD creation (→ recipe-define), persona deep-dive (→ recipe-persona)
Completion
The workflow is complete when the confirmed Opportunities and their decision-relevant hypotheses exist, and the user has received the proposed validation methods, stopping conditions, and priority.