Evaluate an AI product idea across outcomes, hypotheses, risks, and positioning. Use when deciding whether an AI solution deserves investment or recommendation.
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Slash command/recommendation-canvas
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Evaluate an AI product idea across outcomes, hypotheses, risks, and positioning. Use when deciding whether an AI solution deserves investment or recommendation.
---name: recommendation-canvas
argument-hint: "[AI product idea]"
description: Evaluate an AI product idea across outcomes, hypotheses, risks, and positioning. Use when deciding whether an AI solution deserves investment or recommendation.
intent: >-
Evaluate and propose AI product solutions using a structured canvas that assesses business outcomes, customer outcomes, problem framing, solution hypotheses, positioning, risks, and value justification. Use this to build a comprehensive, defensible recommendation for stakeholders and decision-makers—especially when proposing AI-powered features or products that carry higher uncertainty and risk.
type: component
---## Purpose
Evaluate and propose AI product solutions using a structured canvas that assesses business outcomes, customer outcomes, problem framing, solution hypotheses, positioning, risks, and value justification. Use this to build a comprehensive, defensible recommendation for stakeholders and decision-makers—especially when proposing AI-powered features or products that carry higher uncertainty and risk.
This is not a feature spec—it's a strategic proposal that articulates *why* this AI solution is worth building, *what* assumptions need validating, and *how* you'll measure success.
## Input
**Works best with:** The AI product or feature idea being evaluated.
**Also useful:** Target customer, expected business outcome, known risks, and who the recommendation must convince.
Anything supplied with the invocation itself — text after the skill name, a pasted context dump, or an appended `ARGUMENTS:` line — counts as answers already given. Use it and skip whatever it covers; don't re-ask.
**Arriving empty-handed? That works too.** The skill asks for the idea and the decision-maker, then works through the canvas boxes.
**Example invocation:** `Recommendation canvas: AI-suggested reorder quantities for warehouse managers — VP Ops wants a go/no-go next month.`
## Key Concepts
### The Recommendation Canvas Framework
Created for Dean Peters' Productside "AI Innovation for Product Managers" class, the canvas synthesizes multiple PM frameworks into one strategic view:
**Core Components:**
1. **Business Outcome:** What's in it for the business?
2. **Product Outcome:** What's in it for the customer?
3. **Problem Statement:** Persona-centric problem framing
4. **Solution Hypothesis:** If/then hypothesis with experiments
5. **Positioning Statement:** Value prop and differentiation
6. **Assumptions & Unknowns:** What could invalidate this?
- [e.g., "Reduce by 25% the churn of existing customers using our existing product"]
```
**Example:**
- "Increase by 15% the monthly recurring revenue from enterprise customers within 12 months"
**Quality checks:**
- **Measurable:** Can you track this metric?
- **Time-bound:** Within what timeframe?
- **Ambitious but realistic:** Not "10x revenue in 1 month"
---
#### Product Outcome
What's in it for the customer? Use this format:
- [Direction] [Metric] [Outcome] [Context from persona's POV] [Acceptance Criteria]
```markdown
## Product Outcome
- [e.g., "Increase the speed of finding patients when I know the inclusion and exclusion criteria"]
```
**Example:**
- "Reduce by 60% the time spent manually processing invoices for small business owners"
**Quality checks:**
- **Customer-centric:** Written from user perspective ("I," not "we")
- **Outcome, not feature:** "Reduce time spent" not "Use AI automation"
---
### Step 3: Frame the Problem
Use the problem framing narrative from `skills/problem-statement/SKILL.md`:
```markdown
## The Problem Statement
### Problem Statement Narrative
- [Persona description: 2-3 sentences telling the persona's story from their POV]
- [Example: "Sarah is a freelance designer managing 10 clients. She spends 8 hours/month manually tracking invoices and chasing late payments. By the time she follows up, some clients have already moved to other designers, costing her revenue and damaging relationships."]
```
**Quality checks:**
- **Empathetic:** Does this sound like the user's voice?
- **Specific:** Not "users want better tools" but "Sarah spends 8 hours/month..."
- **Validated:** Based on real user research, not assumptions
---
### Step 4: Define the Solution Hypothesis
#### Hypothesis Statement
Use the epic hypothesis format from `skills/epic-hypothesis/SKILL.md`:
```markdown
## Solution Hypothesis
### Hypothesis Statement
**If we** [action or solution on behalf of target persona]
**for** [target persona]
**Then we will** [attain or achieve desirable outcome]
```
**Example:**
- "If we provide AI-powered invoice reminders that auto-send at optimal times for freelance designers, then we will reduce time spent on payment follow-ups by 70%"
---
#### Tiny Acts of Discovery
Define lightweight experiments to validate the hypothesis:
```markdown
### Tiny Acts of Discovery
**We will test our assumption by:**
- [Experiment 1: Prototype AI reminder system and test with 5 freelancers]
- [Experiment 2: A/B test manual vs. AI-timed reminders for 20 users]
- [Experiment 3: Survey users on perceived value after 2 weeks]
```
**Quality checks:**
- **Fast:** Days/weeks, not months
- **Cheap:** Prototypes, concierge tests, not full builds
- **Falsifiable:** Could prove you wrong
---
#### Proof-of-Life
Define validation measures:
```markdown
### Proof-of-Life
**We know our hypothesis is valid if within** [timeframe]
**we observe:**
- [Quantitative outcome: e.g., "80% of users send reminders via the AI system"]
- [Qualitative outcome: e.g., "8 out of 10 users report saving 5+ hours/month"]
```
---
### Step 5: Define Positioning
Use the positioning statement format from `skills/positioning-statement/SKILL.md`:
```markdown
## Positioning Statement
### Value Proposition
**For** [target customer/user persona]
**that need** [statement of underserved need]
[product name]
**is a** [product category]
**that** [statement of benefit, focusing on outcomes]
### Differentiation Statement
**Unlike** [primary competitor or competitive arena]
[product name]
**provides** [unique differentiation, focusing on outcomes]
