Full SKILL.md

Strategy Toolkit

name: strategy-toolkit description: General management-strategy problem-solving — the analytical moves and partner-led workflow behind a strategy engagement, for situations product-strategy doesn't cover: turnarounds, growth diagnosis, portfolio reallocation, competitive response, transformation, cost/margin, operating-model redesign, M&A rationale, or any ambiguous "what should we do" business question. Carries a structured 8-stage problem-solving workflow (frame → map → focus → plan → run → integrate → recommend → package) plus 21 reusable analytical moves: situation assessment, market mapping, customer segmentation, competitive intel, growth barriers, profit-pool analysis, strategic options, assumption audit, war-gaming, pricing, business case, portfolio review, initiative prioritization, operating-model design, KPI architecture, risk, transformation roadmap, value realization, narrative, stakeholder alignment, decision memo — each available in McKinsey, Bain, and BCG idioms. Use whenever someone is diagnosing a business, generating or stress-testing strategic options, building the case, planning delivery, or packaging a recommendation — even if they don't say "strategy." For product/market-entry/monetization engagements specifically, use the product-strategy skill instead or alongside.

A reusable playbook for general management-strategy work: turning an ambiguous business question into a structured, defensible, board-ready recommendation. This file is the spine — it carries the partner-led workflow, the operating rules, and a map to the 21 analytical moves. Load a reference only when the work touches it.

This is the general sibling to product-strategy. Use product-strategy for product, market-entry, expansion, monetization, and GTM engagements (it has the where-to-play / what-to-build / how-to-win / how-to-make-money spine). Use strategy-toolkit for everything else a strategy team handles — turnaround, growth diagnosis, portfolio reallocation, competitive response, cost and margin, operating-model redesign, transformation, M&A rationale — and for the underlying analytical moves either engagement needs. The two share vocabulary (SCQA, MECE, the Pyramid, business cases, KPI trees) and cross-reference cleanly.

How to use this skill

  1. If you have an ambiguous question and a blank page, run the 8-stage workflow below — it sequences the whole engagement with review gates.
  2. If you need a specific analytical move (size a market, find the binding growth constraint, prioritize initiatives, build the case, align stakeholders), jump straight to it via the move catalog and load that one reference.
  3. Pick a firm idiom to taste — McKinsey (issue trees, Pyramid, Five Forces, Theory of Constraints), Bain (gap to full potential, Founder's Mentality, NPS/loyalty economics, RAPID, microbattles, Results Delivery), or BCG (Strategy Palette, Growth-Share, experience curve, TSR, Smart Simplicity). The moves are written in the richest (Bain-grade) form; references/firm-lenses.md is the glossary that re-flavors any move.
  4. Hold the operating rules throughout, and run the relevant quality bar before treating a deliverable as done.

The 8-stage workflow (the engine)

A partner-led, hypothesis-driven problem-solving sequence. You play the partner (set direction, make trade-offs, approve each stage); the work runs as a sharp associate. Every stage has a review gate — get approval before the next.

  1. Frame the question — restate the problem as a single decision question that, once answered, tells the client what to do. Apply SCQA; define scope and success criteria. Output: one-line decision question + SCQA + scope + success criteria.
  2. Map the logic — decompose the question into a MECE issue tree; attach a testable hypothesis to each branch; tag each known / assumed / unknown. Output: a hypothesis tree.
  3. Focus the work (80/20) — score each branch on how much it could move the answer × how uncertain it is; select the few high-impact, high-uncertainty branches; park the rest with a one-line reason. Output: a prioritized shortlist + a parked list.
  4. Plan the analyses — per selected branch, define the analysis, data, and method; sequence by dependency; flag data gaps; set the "done" bar. Output: an analysis plan.
  5. Run the analyses — test each hypothesis against evidence; record finding + evidence + confidence (high/med/low); revise where evidence contradicts; surface new branches. Output: findings with confidence.
  6. Integrate the answer — synthesize the branch findings into one governing answer; resolve tensions (don't average them away); pressure-test with "what would have to be true for this to be wrong." Output: one integrated answer with support and open risks.
  7. Shape the recommendation — convert the answer into concrete actions (what, by when, owned by whom), economics (value at stake vs cost), key risks + mitigations, and first moves. Output: a recommendation.
  8. Package the story — structure with the Pyramid Principle (governing thought → MECE supports → evidence), open with SCQA, produce in the requested format, prepare hostile-question answers. Output: board-ready content + a hostile-Q prep sheet.

Operating rules

  • Answer-first — lead with the recommendation, then the support. Suspense is a defect.
  • MECE — every decomposition mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive.
  • Hypothesis-led — write the hypothesis before running the analysis.
  • 80/20 — spend effort only on the branches that can change the answer.
  • Evidence-graded — every claim carries a confidence level and its source; never smuggle an inference in as a fact.
  • So-what discipline — every finding ends in an explicit implication; if it has none, cut it.
  • Second-order thinking — for every major move ask "and then what happens" (competitor response, the next binding constraint, the strain on the core).

The 21 analytical moves — catalog and reference map

A typical engagement flows diagnosis → choice → execution → communication, but the moves are standalone — pull the one the moment demands. For deck/exhibit/board-page craft on the output, hand to the consulting-deck skill; for live .xlsx models behind a business case, the financial-modeling skill.

A

Diagnosis

  1. Diagnosis — establishing the real picture

    1,403 w

    Load when profit-pool-analysis.

    references/diagnosis.md6 sub-sections
B

Strategy choice

  1. Strategy Choice — generating, testing, and costing the move

    1,568 w

    Load when portfolio-review.

    references/strategy-choice.md6 sub-sections
C

Execution

  1. Execution — turning the strategy into delivery

    1,772 w

    Load when value-realization.

    references/execution.md6 sub-sections
D

Communication

  1. Communication — landing the recommendation

    1,216 w

    Load when decision-memo.

    references/communication.md3 sub-sections
E

Firm lenses

  1. Firm Lenses — McKinsey / Bain / BCG idioms

    1,175 w

    Load when **Firm idioms**.

    references/firm-lenses.md4 sub-sections

Note on origin and reuse

Consolidated from a problem-solving workflow pack and three idiom packs (generic, Bain, BCG) of the same 21 strategy moves, plus a McKinsey-analysis subset. The moves are written in the richest form with firm-specific frameworks preserved as named lenses. Example figures are illustrative.