{"id":"66235530-87b1-4a97-ae64-d240a012d128","shortId":"BpXhY5","kind":"skill","title":"working-backwards","tagline":"Create an Amazon-style PR/FAQ plus a backcasting launch plan.","description":"# Working Backwards (PR/FAQ + Backcasting)\n\n## Scope\n\n**Covers**\n- Turning a product idea into a customer-centric **future press release + FAQ (PR/FAQ)**\n- Creating 2–3 divergent PR options to avoid solution lock-in\n- Backcasting a launch: a concrete **GTM + operational “machinery” plan** from target date back to today\n- Surfacing stakeholders, dependencies, constraints, and risks early\n\n**When to use**\n- “Write a PR/FAQ for…”\n- “Working backwards from the customer…”\n- “Create a future press release / press release from the future”\n- “Backcast a launch plan / working backwards timeline”\n- “We need alignment on what we’re building before writing a PRD”\n\n**When NOT to use**\n- You don’t yet understand the problem and need discovery framing (use `problem-definition`)\n- You already have narrative alignment and need detailed requirements (use `writing-prds`)\n- You need a build-ready engineering/design spec (use `writing-specs-designs`)\n- You’re prioritizing among many initiatives (use `prioritizing-roadmap`)\n- You only need marketing copy for an already-built product (use `launch-marketing`)\n- You’re doing early-stage idea validation without a clear customer problem (use `startup-ideation`)\n- You need a long-term product vision or mission statement (use `defining-product-vision`)\n\n## Inputs\n\n**Minimum required**\n- Product/context + target customer/user segment\n- Problem statement (or symptoms) + why now\n- Candidate solution idea(s) (can be vague; options are welcome)\n- Constraints: timeline/launch target, platform, policy/legal, dependencies\n- Success metrics (1–3) + guardrails (2–5)\n\n**Missing-info strategy**\n- Ask up to 5 questions from [references/INTAKE.md](references/INTAKE.md).\n- If answers remain missing, proceed with clearly labeled assumptions and provide 2–3 options (PR variants, scope, rollout).\n\n## Outputs (deliverables)\n\nProduce a **Working Backwards Pack** in Markdown (in-chat; or as files if the user requests):\n\n1) **Context snapshot**\n2) **PR options:** 2–3 divergent future press releases (1 page each)\n3) **Selected PR:** refined future press release\n4) **FAQ:** customer + internal (business/ops/technical/legal) FAQs\n5) **Backcasting plan:** milestones to launch (owners, dates, dependencies)\n6) **Stakeholder + “machinery” plan:** approvals, comms, rollout, support readiness\n7) **Success metrics + guardrails** (+ instrumentation notes)\n8) **Risks / Open questions / Next steps** (always included)\n\nTemplates: [references/TEMPLATES.md](references/TEMPLATES.md)  \nExpanded guidance: [references/WORKFLOW.md](references/WORKFLOW.md)\n\n## Workflow (8 steps)\n\n### 1) Intake + decision framing\n- **Inputs:** user request; [references/INTAKE.md](references/INTAKE.md).\n- **Actions:** Clarify the decision (invest vs not, choose approach), audience, and target launch date/timebox. Capture constraints + stakeholders.\n- **Outputs:** Context snapshot.\n- **Checks:** You can state the decision and time horizon in one sentence.\n\n### 2) Write the problem paragraph (before any solution)\n- **Inputs:** customer segment + evidence; why now.\n- **Actions:** Draft “Problem today” in customer language. List top pains and current alternatives/workarounds.\n- **Outputs:** Problem paragraph + alternatives bullets.\n- **Checks:** Describes pain without specifying implementation; avoids “we want to build X” framing.\n\n### 3) Draft 2–3 divergent future press releases (options)\n- **Inputs:** problem paragraph; constraints.\n- **Actions:** Create Option A/B/C PRs with different solution shapes. Keep them 1 page each.\n- **Outputs:** 2–3 PR drafts.\n- **Checks:** Options are meaningfully different; each promises clear customer value; no internal jargon.\n\n### 4) Select the best option and refine to a single PR\n- **Inputs:** PR options; decision criteria; stakeholder feedback (if available).\n- **Actions:** Pick a winner (or hybrid) and refine the PR for clarity, boundaries, and a concrete “how it works”.\n- **Outputs:** Selected PR.\n- **Checks:** A stakeholder can restate the benefit and “why now” in one sentence; “who it’s for / not for” is explicit.\n\n### 5) Write the FAQ (customer + internal)\n- **Inputs:** selected PR; constraints; dependencies.\n- **Actions:** Draft FAQs in sections: customer, business, technical/ops, legal/compliance. Include out-of-scope, risks, and measurement.\n- **Outputs:** FAQ section.\n- **Checks:** Top objections are answered; open questions are explicitly labeled; no “we’ll figure it out later” hand-waving.\n\n### 6) Backcast: build the launch and “machinery” plan\n- **Inputs:** target launch tier/date; FAQ dependencies.\n- **Actions:** Create a milestone plan working backward (design, eng, data, legal, docs, support, comms). Define launch tiers and rollback.\n- **Outputs:** Backcasting plan + launch tiers/rollback plan.\n- **Checks:** Each milestone has an owner + success criteria; major dependencies have a plan.\n\n### 7) Stress-test: pre-mortem + metrics + guardrails\n- **Inputs:** PR/FAQ + backcasting plan.\n- **Actions:** Run a pre-mortem. List failure modes (trust/safety/quality/cost). Define success metrics + guardrails + instrumentation needs.\n- **Outputs:** Risks + metrics/guardrails + validation notes.\n- **Checks:** Each major risk has a mitigation/monitor; metrics are computable and owned.\n\n### 8) Quality gate + finalize pack\n- **Inputs:** full draft pack.\n- **Actions:** Run [references/CHECKLISTS.md](references/CHECKLISTS.md) and score with [references/RUBRIC.md](references/RUBRIC.md). Ensure final section includes risks/open questions/next steps.\n- **Outputs:** Final Working Backwards Pack.\n- **Checks:** Pack is decision-ready and shareable async (no meeting required).\n\n## Quality gate (required)\n- Use [references/CHECKLISTS.md](references/CHECKLISTS.md) and [references/RUBRIC.md](references/RUBRIC.md).\n- Always include: **Risks**, **Open questions**, **Next steps**.\n\n## Examples\n\n**Example 1 (B2B SaaS):** “Write a PR/FAQ and backcasting plan for ‘Role-based dashboards’ for enterprise admins, with a beta in 8 weeks.”  \nExpected: 2–3 PR options, selected PR/FAQ, and a milestone plan covering security review, instrumentation, docs/support.\n\n**Example 2 (Consumer):** “Work backwards for ‘Saved routes’ in a navigation app; propose two alternative product concepts and pick one.”  \nExpected: divergent PRs that surface trade-offs, clear metrics (repeat usage, retention), and guardrails (privacy, battery, safety).\n\n**Boundary example:** “Write a PR/FAQ for ‘use AI’ (no user problem).”\nResponse: ask intake questions, redirect to `problem-definition` if needed, and do not pretend to have customer clarity.\n\n**Boundary example 2:** “I have 10 product ideas and need to pick 3 to invest in.”\nResponse: this skill goes deep on one idea (PR/FAQ + backcasting); for prioritizing across many initiatives, use `prioritizing-roadmap` or `startup-ideation` first, then return here for the winner.\n\n## Anti-patterns (common failure modes)\n\n1. **Solution-first PR**: Writing a press release that describes features and implementation before articulating the customer problem. The PR should read like a customer story, not a spec.\n2. **Single-option tunnel vision**: Skipping the 2-3 divergent PR options step and jumping straight to “the” solution. Without alternatives, you miss better framings and fail to surface hidden trade-offs.\n3. **FAQ as afterthought**: Treating the FAQ section as filler instead of rigorously answering the hardest internal objections (cost, feasibility, cannibalization, legal). Weak FAQs let real risks go unaddressed.\n4. **Backcasting without owners**: Creating a milestone plan where every row says “TBD” for the owner. A plan without named owners and dependencies is a wish list, not a launch plan.\n5. **Internal jargon in the PR**: Writing the press release using internal acronyms, technical terms, or company-speak that a target customer would not understand. 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