/pm

name: pm
description: When you want to manage projects across your businesses using a kanban + Eisenhower methodology. One kanban per business (whatever portfolio of businesses, projects, or initiatives you run). Tool-agnostic — connects via API/MCP to whatever PM tool each business uses (Notion, GitHub Projects, Plane, Linear, Obsidian file-based, or manual mode). Async-first output. Six modes — setup (scaffold a new board for a business), triage (Eisenhower-sort the backlog), next (pick the next thing to work on, single board or across all), status (paste-ready async snapshot), unblock (diagnose Review/Blocked column), weekly (Friday pulse + week planning). Triggers on "/pm," "/pm setup," "/pm triage," "/pm next," "/pm status," "/pm unblock," "/pm weekly," "what should I work on next," "kanban status," "Eisenhower this," "triage my backlog," "what's blocked."
metadata:
  version: 0.1.1

/pm — Project management across the portfolio

Methodology-first project management. Kanban + Eisenhower + async. One board per business. Tool-agnostic via adapters.

Mental model

Each business gets its own kanban with 5 columns:

Backlog  →  Ready  →  In Progress  →  Review/Blocked  →  Done/Archived

• **Backlog**: everything that *might* matter — not yet committed
• **Ready**: triaged, well-defined, can be picked up
• **In Progress**: actively being worked
• **Review/Blocked**: waiting on someone else, review, or external dependency
• **Done/Archived**: shipped or killed

**Eisenhower** sits on top of the board — used to triage Backlog → Ready (which items make the cut) and to pick next from Ready (which Ready item to pull).

                Urgent          Not Urgent
Important       Q1: Do          Q2: Schedule    ← Q2 is the high-leverage zone
Not Important   Q3: Delegate    Q4: Delete

**Async-first**: every status snapshot should read like a Loom you didn't have to record. Make work visible without requiring a meeting.

Step 1 — Detect mode and target

Parse the invocation:

| Invocation | Mode | Target | |---|---|---| | `/pm setup [business]` | setup | the named business | | `/pm triage [business]` | triage | the named business (or ask) | | `/pm next [business]` | next | the named business | | `/pm next` | next | **across all boards** (cross-portfolio) | | `/pm status [business]` | status | the named business (or ask) | | `/pm unblock [business]` | unblock | the named business (or ask) | | `/pm weekly` | weekly | all boards (Friday pulse) | | `/pm weekly [business]` | weekly | the named business |

Step 2 — Load board config + personal overlay

Read `${MAKERSKILLS_CONFIG:-$HOME/.config/makerskills}/pm/boards.md` (personal — real business list + tool mapping per business). Falls back to `references/boards.md` in the repo if the local file doesn't exist yet — that's a template.

Also try to load `${MAKERSKILLS_CONFIG:-$HOME/.config/makerskills}/pm/team.local.md` if present — this is where the user lists partners, active clients, and typical blocker phrasings. Use it to make status output specific ("Waiting on <partner>'s review") instead of generic.

| Field | Example | |---|---| | business | `<slug>` | | tool | `notion` / `github` / `plane` / `linear` / `obsidian` / `manual` | | board_id or URL | tool-specific | | column overrides | only if this board doesn't use the default 5 columns |

If the business has no mapping yet, jump to **setup** automatically — ask which tool, save the mapping, return to the requested mode.

Step 3 — Load the adapter

Read the relevant section of `references/adapters.md` for the tool. Each adapter section explains how to:

• List cards / issues / pages by column
• Read a single card's full content
• Create a card
• Move a card between columns
• Add a comment / note

Adapters use:

• **Notion** → `$NOTION_API_KEY` (already in zshenv). Database with `Status` select property.
• **GitHub Projects** → `gh` CLI (already authed). `gh project item-list`, `gh project item-edit`.
• **Plane** → Plane API (needs `$PLANE_API_KEY` and workspace slug).
• **Linear** → Linear MCP or API key.
• **Obsidian** → local kanban markdown files in the vault. Read/write directly.
• **Manual** → ask the user to paste the current board state; offer to write back to a local markdown file.

Step 4 — Run the mode

setup

• Ask which tool the business uses
• Walk through column setup (default 5 columns; offer custom)
• Save mapping to `${MAKERSKILLS_CONFIG:-$HOME/.config/makerskills}/pm/boards.md` (NOT to `references/boards.md` in the repo — that's a template only). Create the parent directory if it doesn't exist yet.
• Optionally seed the board with starter cards from a conversation about what's on the user's mind for that business

triage

• Pull the Backlog column
• Apply Eisenhower (Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4) — show the user the matrix view
• Recommend moves:
• Q1 (urgent + important) → move to Ready or In Progress now
• Q2 (important, not urgent) → move to Ready, schedule when
• Q3 (urgent, not important) → delegate (to whom?) or move to Ready if no one
• Q4 (neither) → archive
• Apply moves via the adapter (or output text the user applies manually)

next

• **Single board**: pull Ready, then In Progress. If WIP exceeded, surface what to finish first. If WIP available, recommend top Ready item by Eisenhower priority.
• **Cross-portfolio** (`/pm next` with no business): pull Ready from every board, Eisenhower-rank, recommend top 1–3 across all businesses. Bias toward Q1 then Q2.

status

Generate an async-shareable snapshot:

# [Business] — Status as of YYYY-MM-DD

**Shipped this week:** N cards
- <card title>
- <card title>

**In progress:** N cards
- <card title> — <who/what>

**Review/Blocked:** N cards
- <card title> — blocked on <reason>

**Up next:** top 2–3 from Ready
- <card title>
- <card title>

**Open question:** <one thing that would unblock progress if answered>

Output is paste-ready for Slack, Notion, email, partner DM.