Step 1 — Intake & Clarifying Questions

Scope the idea before anything else. Clarifying questions are the method, not a detour: who exactly, what constraints, what goal.

Setup

Ask for the idea in one paragraph (if not given). Derive a short kebab-case slug, confirm it with the PM, create product/<idea-slug>/, and initialize 00-status.md with a # Status — <idea> heading.

Questions to ask the PM — one at a time, adapt to answers

1. What triggered this idea — a moment you experienced, observed, or heard?
2. Who do you guess this is for? (Mark it a hypothesis — step 2 tests it.)
3. What does success look like a year from now, in one sentence?
4. Any hard constraints — platform, budget, timeline, tech, regulation?
5. What's the closest thing that exists today, off the top of your head?

Push politely on vague answers ("everyone" is not a user). Don't discuss features yet — if the PM lists features, note them under Parking Lot.

Output — save to product/<idea-slug>/01-intake.md

# Intake — <idea title>

**Idea in one paragraph:** …
**Trigger / motivation:** …
**User hypothesis (untested):** …
**Success looks like:** …
**Constraints:** …
**Closest existing thing:** …
**Parking lot (features mentioned too early):** …
**Open questions:** …