61 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
61 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
**Language:** Use `{communication_language}` for all output.
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**Output Language:** Use `{document_output_language}` for documents.
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**Output Location:** `{planning_artifacts}`
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**Coaching stance:** Be direct, challenge vague thinking, but offer concrete alternatives when the user is stuck — tough love, not tough silence.
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# Stage 2: The Press Release
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**Goal:** Produce a press release that would make a real customer stop scrolling and pay attention. Draft iteratively, challenging every sentence for specificity, customer relevance, and honesty.
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**Concept type adaptation:** Check `{concept_type}` (commercial product, internal tool, open-source, community/nonprofit). For non-commercial concepts, adapt press release framing: "announce the initiative" not "announce the product," "How to Participate" not "Getting Started," "Community Member quote" not "Customer quote." The structure stays — the language shifts to match the audience.
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## The Forge
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The press release is the heart of Working Backwards. It has a specific structure, and each part earns its place by forcing a different type of clarity:
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| Section | What It Forces |
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|---------|---------------|
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| **Headline** | Can you say what this is in one sentence a customer would understand? |
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| **Subheadline** | Who benefits and what changes for them? |
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| **Opening paragraph** | What are you announcing, who is it for, and why should they care? |
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| **Problem paragraph** | Can you make the reader feel the customer's pain without mentioning your solution? |
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| **Solution paragraph** | What changes for the customer? (Not: what did you build.) |
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| **Leader quote** | What's the vision beyond the feature list? |
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| **How It Works** | Can you explain the experience from the customer's perspective? |
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| **Customer quote** | Would a real person say this? Does it sound human? |
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| **Getting Started** | Is the path to value clear and concrete? |
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## Coaching Approach
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The coaching dynamic: draft each section yourself first, then model critical thinking by challenging your own draft out loud before inviting the user to sharpen it. Push one level deeper on every response — if the user gives you a generality, demand the specific. The cycle is: draft → self-challenge → invite → deepen.
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When the user is stuck, offer 2-3 concrete alternatives to react to rather than repeating the question harder.
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## Quality Bars
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These are the standards to hold the press release to. Don't enumerate them to the user — embody them in your challenges:
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- **No jargon** — If a customer wouldn't use the word, neither should the press release
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- **No weasel words** — "significantly", "revolutionary", "best-in-class" are banned. Replace with specifics.
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- **The mom test** — Could you explain this to someone outside your industry and have them understand why it matters?
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- **The "so what?" test** — Every sentence should survive "so what?" If it can't, cut or sharpen it.
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- **Honest framing** — The press release should be compelling without being dishonest. If you're overselling, the customer FAQ will expose it.
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## Headless Mode
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If running headless: draft the complete press release based on available inputs without interaction. Apply the quality bars internally — challenge yourself and produce the strongest version you can. Write directly to the output document.
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## Updating the Document
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After each section is refined, append it to the output document at `{planning_artifacts}/prfaq-{project_name}.md`. Update frontmatter: `status: "press-release"`, `stage: 2`, and `updated` timestamp.
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## Coaching Notes Capture
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Before moving on, append a brief `<!-- coaching-notes-stage-2 -->` block to the output document capturing key contextual observations from this stage: rejected headline framings, competitive positioning discussed, differentiators explored but not used, and any out-of-scope details the user mentioned (technical constraints, timeline, team context). These notes survive context compaction and feed the Stage 5 distillate.
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## Stage Complete
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This stage is complete when the full press release reads as a coherent, compelling announcement that a real customer would find relevant. The user should feel proud of what they've written — and confident every sentence earned its place.
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Route to `./customer-faq.md`.
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