SKILL.md
Strategy Memo Skill
Strategy is choosing what not to do. A real strategy memo makes a bet and names the sacrifices; a fake one is a list of goals everyone already agreed with. This skill follows the diagnosis → guiding policy → coherent actions structure, forces explicit non-goals, and ties the bet to leading indicators — so the team is aligned on a direction sharp enough to be wrong.
Required Inputs
Ask for these only if they aren't already provided:
- The strategic question — the choice or challenge this memo resolves.
- The situation — the honest diagnosis: the market, the competition, your real position and constraints.
- The bet — the approach you're choosing and what it's betting on being true.
- The trade-offs — what you'll deliberately not do or de-prioritise to make the bet.
Output Format
Strategy Memo: [the strategic question]
1. The question — the strategic choice being made, in one sentence.
2. Diagnosis — the honest read of the situation: what's really going on, the few factors that matter most, and your true position (not the aspirational one). A strategy built on a flattering diagnosis fails.
3. The bet (guiding policy) — the chosen approach and, explicitly, what it assumes is true. This is the spine — everything else serves it.
4. Why now — why this is the right bet at this moment (the window, the catalyst), not last year or next.
5. What we're NOT doing — the explicit non-goals and de-prioritisations. If this list is empty, it isn't a strategy — it's a wish list.
6. Coherent actions — the few moves that follow from the bet and reinforce each other (not a laundry list of everything).
7. How we'll know — the leading indicators that tell you the bet is working (or not) early, and the conditions under which you'd reconsider.
8. Risks — what could make the bet wrong, and which assumptions to validate first.