Which agents, skills, and workflows belong to each stage of the product lifecycle — from first idea to post-launch iteration.
The stage most teams skip. The stage that determines everything.
Every assumption you ship without validating becomes a bug you will fix in production — at ten times the cost. AI-SHIPR in discovery mode treats every bet as an unvalidated hypothesis and surfaces your highest-risk assumptions before you write a line of spec.
product_stage: discovery
| Tool | Type | When to run |
|---|---|---|
| /discovery — Discovery Sprint | Workflow | Start of phase (setup), start of each sprint (check-in), end of phase (/discovery gate) |
| Agent | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Problem Framer | Agent | Turns a vague idea into a specific, bounded problem statement. Run this first. |
| Product Strategist | Agent | Builds full strategy from JTBD → Opportunity Solution Tree → OKR. Orchestrates six discovery skills in sequence. |
| Lean Product Canvas | Agent | Structures the product using the 8-box Lean Canvas. Problem before solution. |
| # | Skill | When to run |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Competitive Landscape Mapper | After Problem Framer, before user research |
| 2 | Persona Builder | Before interviews; refine after |
| 3 | Interview Guide Builder | Before every round of user interviews |
| 4 | Interview Synthesizer | Immediately after each interview batch |
| 5 | Research Synthesizer | After Interview Synthesizer; before JTBD Mapper |
| 6 | JTBD Mapper | After research synthesis |
| 7 | Opportunity Tree | After JTBD Mapper |
| 8 | Assumption Extractor | After Opportunity Tree; before Hypothesis Builder |
| 9 | Hypothesis Builder | After Assumption Extractor |
| 10 | Experiment Designer | After Hypothesis Builder |
| 11 | Discovery Readiness Checker | End of each discovery sprint; gate before PRD Builder |
Run /discovery gate before moving to Definition. Discovery Readiness Checker scores five categories and surfaces explicit blockers. A score below 80 or any blocked category means the move is premature.
Discovery is done. Now define exactly what you are building and why.
Definition converts validated hypotheses into requirements, priorities, and a roadmap. This is where PRDs get written, OKRs get locked, and the build team gets aligned before a single sprint starts.
product_stage: definition
| Tool | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| PRD Builder | Skill | Converts a validated initiative + hypotheses into a PRD. Requires at least one confirmed hypothesis. |
| Roadmap Planner /plan | Workflow | Maps strategic bets to sequenced initiatives. Surfaces coverage gaps and sequencing risks. |
| OKR Partner | Skill | Sets objectives and key results with specificity and explicit bet linkage. |
| Decision Architect | Agent | Structures complex decisions with competing options. Run when the path is unclear. |
| Priority Stack | Skill | Scores and ranks initiatives against each other before committing to a roadmap. |
| Stakeholder Translator | Agent | Prepares for alignment meetings. Translates structured strategy into stakeholder language. |
You are in active development sprints. Keep the bet in view.
The risk in the build stage is scope creep and losing the connection between what is being built and the hypothesis it is supposed to test. AI-SHIPR keeps the link between sprint work and strategic bets explicit at every ceremony.
product_stage: building
| Tool | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Sprint Planner /sprint | Workflow | Sprint kickoff: goal tied to a strategic bet, committed scope, out-of-scope list. |
| Build Companion | Skill | Structures in-sprint PM decisions — scope changes, trade-offs, mid-sprint discoveries. |
| Build Review | Skill | Prepares the sprint review. Shipped vs committed. Hypothesis coverage check. |
| Retro Facilitator | Skill | Structures the sprint retro into actionable process improvements. |
| Fire Responder | Skill | Classifies and responds to active incidents. Keeps the sprint from derailing. |
The product is live. Now you learn whether the hypotheses were right.
Launch is not the end — it is the start of the measurement window. Every hypothesis filed during discovery now has a result to check against. The question is not "how did the launch go?" but "what did the data tell us about the bet we made?"
product_stage: launched
| Tool | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Launch Coordinator /launch | Workflow | Pre-launch go/no-go checklist. Run 3–5 days before any launch. |
| Performance Tracker | Skill | Validates or invalidates the hypothesis with post-launch data. Returns a verdict, not a summary. |
| Sprint Summarizer | Skill | Generates sprint summaries in two modes: internal team and external stakeholders. |
| Weekly Review /weekly | Workflow | Friday loop close. What moved, decided, learned. Updates Learning.md. |
Data changed your direction. Now act on it — systematically.
Iteration is not "fix the bugs and add the features." It is a new hypothesis cycle, informed by what the data showed. The Iteration Planner closes the previous bet and opens the next one with explicit reasoning for why the direction changed.
product_stage: iterating
| Tool | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Iteration Planner /iterate | Workflow | Closes one cycle and opens the next. Run after a hypothesis is validated or invalidated. |
| Experiment Designer | Skill | Designs the next test based on what the data showed. Iteration starts with a new experiment. |
| Hypothesis Builder | Skill | Reformulates the hypothesis based on what was learned. Every iteration starts with an updated hypothesis. |
| Opportunity Tree | Skill | Re-ranks opportunities based on post-launch signal. What looked risky in discovery may now be clear. |
One line in Settings.md changes how every agent and workflow behaves. Update it deliberately — each transition is a strategic decision, not a calendar event.
product_stage: definition — run PRD Builder on highest-confidence betproduct_stage: building — run Sprint Planner for sprint 1product_stage: launched — start measurement windowproduct_stage: iterating — run Iteration Planner to open next cycle