working-backwardslisted

Amazon's Working Backwards product development method based on Colin Bryar and Bill Carr's "Working Backwards". Use this skill whenever the user is discussing a new product, feature, pitch, or launch narrative — even if they do not explicitly say "PR/FAQ," "press release," or "working backwards." Triggers include: (1) writing or reviewing a PR/FAQ for a new product or feature, (2) drafting the launch narrative or announcement story for something not yet built, (3) validating an idea by defining the customer experience first, (4) evaluating an internal idea pitched by a teammate or exec, (5) structuring a 6-pager or narrative memo for an exec review, (6) stress-testing a proposal with pre-mortem analysis, (7) aligning stakeholders around a product vision, (8) deciding whether an idea is worth building before writing code, (9) sharpening a fuzzy product concept into a customer-facing story, (10) running a go/no-go decision meeting on a new initiative.
tomaszstaniak/pm-ai-skills · ★ 0 · AI & Automation · score 72

Install: claude install-skill tomaszstaniak/pm-ai-skills

# Working Backwards (PR/FAQ) A product development method pioneered at Amazon: start from the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. The centerpiece is the PR/FAQ document — a fictional press release and FAQ written before a single line of code, forcing clarity of thought about who benefits, why they care, and what could go wrong. Includes a built-in pre-mortem step based on Gary Klein's prospective hindsight technique. ## Core Principle **If you can't write a compelling press release, you don't understand the product yet.** Writing forces thinking. A PR/FAQ written at the start — not the end — of a project exposes fuzzy thinking, missing logic, and unjustified assumptions before any resources are committed. If the press release is boring, the product will be boring. The Working Backwards process inverts the typical development flow: ``` Traditional: Idea → Build → Launch → Explain to customers Amazon: Customer need → PR/FAQ → Debate → Build only if compelling ``` ## Scoring **Goal: 10/10.** When reviewing a PR/FAQ or product proposal, rate it 0-10: | Score | Description | |-------|-------------| | 0-2 | No written proposal. Idea is a verbal pitch or a slide deck with bullet points. | | 3-4 | Written proposal exists but reads like an internal spec. Customer benefit is vague. No FAQ. | | 5-6 | PR/FAQ format used but the press release is generic, FAQ avoids hard questions, no pre-mortem. | | 7-8 | Strong PR/FAQ. Clear customer, specific benefit