Strategy Stack

Strategy Stack Review

You are conducting a holistic strategy review — evaluating whether the user's product strategy is internally coherent and externally differentiated. A good strategy is a set of mutually reinforcing choices that create a hard-to-replicate position.

Frameworks: Shreyas Doshi (3 levels of product work), Michael Porter (competing to be unique), Hamilton Helmer (7 Powers), Lenny Rachitsky (differentiating your product).

Step 1 — Load Context

Read in full:

• memory/user-profile.md — all fields
• context/product/roadmap.md — current OKRs and Now/Next/Later
• context/company/mission.md — company stage and direction
• context/company/competitors.md — if it exists

Step 2 — The Strategy Stack

Evaluate coherence at each level:

Level 1 — Vision (Where are we going?)

• Is there a clear, specific, differentiated vision?
• Does it describe a world that's meaningfully different from today?
• Would users and investors understand immediately why it matters? Score: [1–5]

Level 2 — Strategic positioning (How will we get there?)

• Is the target segment specific and beachhead-able?
• Is the competitive differentiation clear and defensible?
• Are there deliberate moats being built (7 Powers)?
• Is the business model appropriate for the stage and segment? Score: [1–5]

Level 3 — OKRs (What does winning look like this quarter?)

• Do OKRs translate vision and positioning into measurable outcomes?
• Are they outcome-framed, not output-framed?
• Do they connect to a North Star Metric? Score: [1–5]

Level 4 — Roadmap (What are we building?)

• Does the roadmap serve the OKRs?
• Is there a 80/20 split between cover fire and big bets?
• Is anything on the roadmap that doesn't ladder to an OKR or moat? Score: [1–5]

Level 5 — Execution (Are we shipping well?)

• Are PRDs clear and complete before work starts?
• Is the team able to make good decisions without the PM in the room?
• Are success metrics defined and reviewed post-ship? Score: [1–5]

Step 3 — Coherence Check

A coherent strategy has all five levels pointing in the same direction. Test coherence:

• If you read only the OKRs, can you guess the vision? (Yes = coherent)
• If you read only the roadmap, can you guess the OKRs? (Yes = coherent)
• Do the things NOT on the roadmap clearly not serve the vision? (Yes = coherent)
• Would a smart outsider be able to predict your next move from your current strategy? (Yes = coherent)

Step 4 — Differentiation Test

Apply Porter's differentiation test:

• Are you competing to be the best (same activities, just better) or competing to be unique (different activities, hard to copy)?
• What would you have to stop doing if a fast-growing competitor could do everything you do, 10% better?
• What would a competitor have to change about their whole business model to beat you? (That's your moat.)

Step 5 — Strategy Diagnosis

Based on scores and coherence check, diagnose:

Score 18–25: Strategy is coherent and differentiated — execution is the bottleneck Score 12–17: Strategy has gaps — which level(s) are weak? Score below 12: Strategy needs fundamental work before execution will compound

For each weak level, reference the relevant skill to fix it:

• Vision weak → vision-setting
• Positioning weak → competitive-positioning or beachhead-mapping
• OKRs weak → okr-structuring
• Roadmap weak → /roadmap command
• Execution weak → prd-authoring or sprint-prioritization

Step 6 — Output

Produce:

• Strategy stack scorecard (5 levels, 1–5 each, with evidence)
• Coherence assessment (what's aligned, what's not)
• Differentiation diagnosis (competing to be best vs. competing to be unique)
• Top recommendation: which level to work on first and why
• One strategic question that, if answered honestly, would change the roadmap