ai-teammate-model
Use when designing AI agent products, defining roadmaps for agentic workflows, or evaluating how to evolve AI from passive tool to proactive partner in software development
Builder Operating Model
Shift from rigid roles (PM, Designer, Engineer) towards a model where individuals use AI to bridge skill gaps, enabling smaller and flatter teams. Use in early-stage startups or innovation units where speed is critical.
nlx-design-stack
Use when designing AI agents or chatbots, when raw model outputs feel like a black box, or when building natural language interfaces that need structure and trust
three-layer-agent-stack
Use when building AI-powered products or agents, when raw model intelligence isn't enough to solve user problems, or when designing the architecture for agentic workflows
Dimensionality of Self-Management
View yourself as an entity with infinite dimensions rather than a single good/bad identity. Strengths and weaknesses are often the same trait in different contexts. Use during performance reviews or when receiving tough feedback.
Energy Audit and Zone of Genius
Review your calendar, color-code activities by energy impact (Green/Red), and systematically delegate draining tasks to maximize time in your Zone of Genius.
gardening-mindset
Use when dealing with ecosystems, network effects, or high-uncertainty environments where the right answer cannot be known in advance, when rigid planning consumes more value than it creates
inner-scorecard
Use when deciding between a high-status opportunity and a riskier path that feels more aligned, when feeling trapped despite external success, or when auditing if your decisions serve your values or others' expectations
J-Curve Career Framework
High-growth careers are J-Curves, not stairs—you jump off a cliff (take risk), struggle for 6-9 months (bottom of J), then shoot up exponentially. Use when deciding between safe promotion vs stretch role.
Personal Operating Manual
A document created by a leader that articulates their values, quirks, and expectations to accelerate mutual understanding with their team. Use when onboarding new team members or taking over a new team.
river-surrender-mindset
Use when exhausted by constant striving, when winning no longer brings joy, or when navigating uncertain life transitions where logic fails
4P Opportunity Framework
Evaluate opportunities by assessing Potential BEFORE Probability, then check Passion and Prowess. Prevents risk aversion from killing high-upside ideas.
Fear and Anger Decision Filter
Fear creates exaggerated negative predictions. When gripped by fear, bet that the opposite will happen if you act against it, then take action. Use for high-stakes decisions that feel emotionally dangerous.
Frontier of Understanding (NCTs)
Before setting outcome goals, identify your understanding level. If you don't know the levers, set a learning goal, not a revenue goal. Don't commit to outcomes you can't control.
historian-decision-model
Use when joining a new company, taking over legacy products, or proposing strategies that were previously attempted to avoid repeating past mistakes
LNO Time Management Framework
Categorize tasks into Leverage (10x), Neutral (1x), and Overhead (<1x) to escape the trap of treating all tasks as equally important. Apply perfectionism only to L tasks.
nominal-group-meeting
Use when meetings are dominated by the loudest voices, when seeking diverse perspectives on roadmaps or forecasts, or when groupthink is hindering decision quality
Opportunity Cost Minimization
Stop optimizing for positive ROI and start focusing on minimizing opportunity cost—choosing the BEST possible use of time, not just a good one. Use during quarterly planning and roadmap prioritization.
playing-to-win
Use when defining long-term product strategy, when needing to pivot from horizontal to vertical focus, or when teams struggle with prioritization due to serving too many use cases
Pre-Mortem Framework
Instead of waiting for a post-mortem after failure, imagine the project has already failed spectacularly and work backward to uncover hidden risks. Use before kicking off any major initiative, product launch, or high-stakes project.
pre-mortem-kill-criteria
Use before launching products or signing contracts, when needing to combat sunk cost fallacy, or when standard pre-mortems fail to change behavior
Corporate Innovation C-Corp Model
To replicate startup speed in large companies, launch new products as separate legal entities (C-Corps) with distinct brands, reporting directly to the CEO, bypassing standard chains of command.
founder-prenup
Use before starting a company with co-founders, when bringing on a new co-founder, or annually as a relationship health check to prevent the 65% of startup failures caused by co-founder conflict
taste-driven-core
Use for core product areas defining long-term brand value, when A/B tests are fragmenting product vision, or when short-term optimization threatens architectural integrity
unstuck-scaling
Use when AI agents frequently hit dead ends, when reliability is the main constraint on scaling utility, or when general model improvements don't solve specific blockers
3-Month PMF Treadmill
Product-Market Fit is perishable in AI. LLM capabilities jump every 3 months, so you must pivot and reinvent your core value proposition quarterly. Accept high churn and throttle scaling for reinvention.
absolute-volume-framework
Use in power-law businesses like platforms or VC, when conversion rate optimization shrinks your funnel, or when efficiency metrics block potential outlier winners
Controllable Inputs Framework
Focus on Input Metrics (selection, price, speed) rather than Output Metrics (revenue, stock price). Inputs are controllable and causal; outputs are lagging. Amazon's flywheel philosophy.
Demand-Side Buying Timeline
A chronological model of the buying process from the customer's perspective—First Thought, Passive Looking, Active Looking, Deciding, First Use, Ongoing Use. Align sales to customer psychology, not your funnel.
explore-exploit-cycles
Use when managing growth experiments, when a product area faces diminishing returns, or when deciding whether to generalize or specialize in career or product strategy
Four Forces of Progress
A behavioral model defining the opposing forces in switching decisions—Push, Pull, Anxiety, Habit. Change happens only when (Push + Pull) > (Anxiety + Habit). Core to Jobs-to-be-Done theory.
gamification-triad
Use when designing retention mechanisms, habit loops, or auditing why users drop off despite engaging with core features, to structure gamification beyond superficial badges
Hierarchy of Engagement
A three-level framework to gauge growth quality. Level 1: Core Action completion. Level 2: Retention via accruing benefits and mounting loss. Level 3: Self-perpetuating loops. Don't optimize for MAU—optimize for engaged users.
Hierarchy of Marketplaces
A roadmap for marketplace domination. Level 1: Focus on a "thimble" to maximize Happy GMV. Level 2: Tip the market via growth loops. Level 3: Dominate to capture economic rents. Not all GMV is equal.
long-horizon-holdout
Use when running experiments on platforms where user value compounds over time, when growth teams claim credit for revenue that would have happened anyway, or when short-term wins don't translate to long-term value
marginal-user-framework
Use when facing conversion plateaus, expanding to new markets, or when aggregate data fails to reveal growth bottlenecks, to identify high-leverage improvements by focusing on worst-case users
Minimum Lovable Product (MLP)
In an era where AI lowers the cost of building software, viability is obsolete. The differentiator is joy and emotional connection. Prioritize "Wow" over "Aha"—brand is product interaction.
organism-conversion-loop
Use when building AI-native products where user data can fine-tune performance, when static software fails to improve with usage, or when designing products that learn from interaction
Product-Led Marketing Loop
Treat product usage costs (even high LLM costs) as marketing expenses. Remove all friction to access, let users create social proof. COGS becomes CAC. Ship to create noise.
shortening-feedback-loops
Use when decisions seem to require years to evaluate, when hiding behind long-term vision to avoid accountability, or when struggling to learn from venture/product bets in real-time
solve-before-scale
Use when building zero-to-one products, when the solution shape is undefined, or when teams are applying growth metrics too early
Add A Zero Heuristic
A goal-setting mental model where leaders increase the target by 10x to force teams to abandon current processes and use first-principles thinking. Use during annual planning when teams default to safe, incremental work.
divergent-working-backwards
Use when defining new product lines or major pivots, when single PR/FAQ leads to tunnel vision, or when giving leadership real strategic choices instead of yes/no decisions
Entropy Defense Mechanism
Deliberately impose artificial constraints and simplification rules to counteract organizational drift toward complexity. Complexity kills companies—fight it with binary rules.
four-bbs-roadmap
Use during quarterly or annual roadmap planning, when Engineering wants tech debt work while PMs want features and Leadership wants moonshots, to force explicit resource allocation
Functional Consolidation Model
Restructure organizations by eliminating divisions and GMs, organizing strictly by function to reduce politics and ensure experts lead experts. Use when sensing slowdown, bureaucracy, or fracturing user experience post-PMF.
PR/FAQ Product Validation
Write a future-dated Press Release and FAQ before any coding begins to ensure the product solves a real customer problem. Work backwards from the customer, not forward from capabilities. Amazon's foundational process.
Product Strategy Stack
A hierarchical framework forcing alignment from top down—Mission, Company Strategy, Product Strategy, Roadmap, Goals. Strategy precedes goals; goals measure progress against a strategy.
seasonal-planning
Use in rapidly evolving industries like AI where 6-month plans become obsolete, when needing to balance direction with agility, or when traditional annual roadmaps fail
Single Consciousness Roadmap
A planning framework where the entire company operates off a single, rolling two-year roadmap with synchronized releases. Use when shipping frequently but customers aren't noticing, or when engineering and marketing are out of sync.
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