/working-backwards

name: working-backwards
description: >
  Working Backwards 5-stage customer-first product discovery. Orchestrates
  Listen, Define, Invent, Refine, Test & Iterate to produce a 5CQ, PR/FAQ, or
  Dear Customer Letter. Use when the user asks to work backwards, write a PR/FAQ,
  draft 5 customer questions, do customer-first product definition, or mentions
  Working Backwards, press release FAQ, 5CQ, MLP, or customer obsession. Do NOT
  use for strategy kernel, Rumelt diagnosis, or Wardley mapping — use
  product-strategy. Do NOT use for PRD drafting or HMW/EARS specs — use
  product-discovery.

Contents

| File | Path | When to load | | ------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------- | | Canonical WB reference | `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/product-design-shared/references/working-backwards.md` | 5-stage process, artifacts, principles, common pitfalls | | Pyramid composition | `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/product-design-shared/references/pyramid-principle.md` | PR as Pyramid top, FAQ as antagonist test | | Research design | `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/product-design-shared/references/research-design.md` | Listen-stage hypothesis + MECE sub-questions | | PR/FAQ authoring workflow | `references/prfaq-authoring.md` | Drafting workflow: 5CQ → PR → FAQ → visuals | | Customer-insights role | `references/roles/customer-insights.md` | Researcher-agent role for Listen synthesis | | 5CQ worksheet | `templates/5cq-worksheet.md` | Fill-in-the-blank for the 5 Customer Questions |

Working Backwards

Orchestrate the 5-stage Working Backwards process end-to-end to produce a 5CQ, PR/FAQ, or Dear Customer Letter. This skill is the user-facing runner; the canonical discipline lives in the shared reference at `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/product-design-shared/references/working-backwards.md`.

When to Use

• You have a product idea and need to pressure-test it customer-first before building.
• You need to produce a PR/FAQ for an annual planning cycle or leadership review.
• You need a 5CQ to align a small team on a feature idea without the full PR/FAQ overhead.
• The real customer problem is fuzzy and you want the discipline to force clarity.

When NOT to use:

• The customer problem is already well-framed and you just need an engineering PRD → use `skills/product-discovery/` directly.
• You need a strategic argument (Rumelt kernel, Wardley map) → use `skills/product-strategy/` directly.

Core Concepts

The 5 stages

Load the canonical shared reference for full per-stage detail: `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/product-design-shared/references/working-backwards.md`. Summary:

| Stage | Key question | Primary artifact | Upstream / downstream | | --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | | **1. Listen** | Who is the customer and what insights do we have? | Raw insights + customer data | `skills/customer-research/` + `customer-insights` role | | **2. Define** | What is the prevailing customer problem / opportunity? | Problem statement (data-backed, no solution named) | `skills/customer-research/templates/problem-statement.md` | | **3. Invent** | What is the solution? Why is it the right one vs. alternatives? | 1-2 sentence solution + rejected alternatives | Brainstorm multiple directions; evaluate | | **4. Refine** | End-to-end CX? Most important customer benefit? | PR/FAQ draft + storyboard + MLP | `references/prfaq-authoring.md` | | **5. Test & Iterate** | How do we measure success? Unintended impacts? | Success metrics + experiment plan | Launch is the starting line |

The process is **circular, not linear**. What you learn in Stage 5 feeds Stage 1.

Artifact progression

The three WB artifacts stack from lightest to heaviest:

1. **5 Customer Questions (5CQ)** — `templates/5cq-worksheet.md`. The on-ramp. Useful on its own for smaller work. 2. **PR/FAQ** — the Press Release (≤1 page) + FAQs + Visuals (combined ≤6 pages). Workflow at `references/prfaq-authoring.md` covers the structural skeleton (headline, sub-headline, summary paragraph, problem, solution, customer quote, getting-started, leader quote, then internal/external FAQs). 3. **Dear Customer Letter** — alternative to the PR in 2nd-person letter form. Five-paragraph template.

Pyramid connection

Working Backwards maps cleanly onto the Pyramid Principle:

• **5CQ** is a mini-Pyramid. Q1–Q4 are the base (evidence: who, what, most important benefit, how we know). Q5 is the customer-facing answer (the experience).
• **PR** is the Pyramid top-down: headline (Purpose) → body (arguments) → customer quotes + specifics (evidence).
• **FAQ** is the antagonist test from Pyramid Phase 2 externalized — pre-writing responses to the 10 hardest questions a skeptic could ask.

See `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/product-design-shared/references/pyramid-principle.md` for the composition discipline.

Quick Reference

A typical end-to-end run:

1. **Capture intent.** What is the idea? Who is the primary customer segm