---
name: product-design-stakeholder-alignment-generator
description: "Transforms messy design debate inputs — Slack threads, meeting notes, conflicting opinions — into three structured alignment artifacts: a set of design principles, a tradeoff summary matrix, and a decision log entry, so cross-functional teams can disagree-and-commit and stop relitigating settled calls. Use when a design decision is stuck, stakeholders keep circling, or you need to document why a choice was made before moving forward."
argument-hint: "[decision-topic] [stakeholder-inputs]"
allowed-tools: ["Read"]
---

# Product Design Stakeholder Alignment Generator

## Purpose
Convert scattered, conflicting stakeholder input into three ready-to-share alignment artifacts — design principles, a tradeoff summary, and a decision log entry — that let a cross-functional team commit to a direction and stop reopening the debate. Solves the "we already decided this three times" problem by making the reasoning, tradeoffs, and dissent explicit and durable.

## When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Break a stalled design or product decision where stakeholders keep disagreeing
- Turn a messy Slack thread, doc comment war, or meeting recap into a clear decision
- Document why a design choice was made so it doesn't get relitigated later
- Get engineering, PM, design, and leadership to disagree-and-commit
- Write a decision log, ADR-style entry, or set of design principles for a feature
- Summarize competing options and tradeoffs before a decision meeting

## Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- **Decision topic**: The specific question being decided (e.g., "onboarding: progressive vs. all-at-once")
- **Stakeholder inputs**: The raw material — paste of Slack messages, meeting notes, comments, or a summary of who wants what
- **Options on the table**: The 2–4 directions being considered (if unclear, infer them from the inputs)
- **Stakeholders involved**: Who holds a position and their role (PM, eng lead, design, leadership, etc.)
- **Constraints**: Hard limits — deadline, tech feasibility, budget, brand, legal, platform
- **Success signal**: What outcome the team is ultimately optimizing for (activation, revenue, speed to ship, etc.)
- **Decision owner**: Who makes the final call if consensus isn't reached (the DRI)

If the decision owner is unstated, flag it explicitly — an unassigned DRI is the most common cause of stalled alignment. If options aren't listed, extract them from the raw inputs and confirm them in the output.

## Instructions

### Step 1: Extract Positions from the Mess
Parse the raw stakeholder input into a clean map:
- List each distinct **position** and who holds it (attribute by name/role)
- Separate **stated positions** (what they say they want) from **underlying interests** (why they want it — the goal beneath the opinion)
- Flag any **false conflicts** — cases where two stakeholders actually want compatible outcomes but are arguing about implementation
- Note **unspoken assumptions** each side is making that haven't been surfaced

Format as a short position map: `[Stakeholder/role] wants [position] because [underlying interest].`

### Step 2: Draft Design Principles (4–6)
Generate the principles that should govern this decision — the decision-making criteria the team can agree on *before* picking an option.
- Each principle is a directional statement: "When forced to choose, we favor X over Y."
- Principles must create tension — a principle that no one would disagree with is useless. Good principles make hard calls easier by pre-committing to a value ordering.
- Ground each principle in the success signal and constraints, not in personal preference
- Example shape: "We optimize for time-to-first-value over feature completeness in onboarding."

### Step 3: Build the Tradeoff Summary Matrix
Create a comparison table of the options on the table:
- **Rows**: Each option under consideration
- **Columns**: The 3–5 dimensions that matter most (derived from principles + constraints — e.g., activation impact, eng effort, risk, reversibility, time-to-ship)
- Fill each cell with a concrete, honest assessment — not "good/bad" but specific consequences
- Add a **Reversibility** note per option: is this a one-way or two-way door? (Two-way-door decisions deserve less debate and faster commitment.)
- Below the matrix, write a 2–3 sentence **honest tradeoff statement**: what the team gives up no matter which option wins

### Step 4: Write the Recommendation and Decision Log Entry
Make a clear recommendation, then formalize it:
- **Recommendation**: State the recommended option and tie it directly to the principles from Step 2. Be decisive.
- **Decision Log Entry** (ADR-style), containing:
  - *Decision*: One sentence — what was decided
  - *Date & Owner*: Who made the call (the DRI)
  - *Context*: The problem being solved, in 2–3 sentences
  - *Options considered*: One line each, why the others were not chosen
  - *Rationale*: Why this option, referencing the principles
  - *Dissent captured*: Who disagreed and their strongest objection — recorded respectfully, not erased
  - *Commitment ask*: The explicit disagree-and-commit statement everyone signs off on
  - *Revisit trigger*: The specific condition under which this decision should be reopened (e.g., "if activation drops below X after launch")

### Step 5: Provide the Alignment Message
Draft a 4–6 sentence message the decision owner can paste into Slack or email to close the loop: states the decision, thanks dissenters by acknowledging their concern, and asks for explicit commit.

## Output Format
- **Structure**: Five sections in order — Position Map → Design Principles → Tradeoff Matrix → Recommendation & Decision Log → Alignment Message
- **Length**: 700–1,000 words
- **Format**: Position map as attributed bullets; principles as a numbered list; tradeoffs as a table; decision log as a labeled structured block; alignment message as short prose
- **Sections**: Position Map, Design Principles (4–6), Tradeoff Summary Matrix, Recommendation, Decision Log Entry, Alignment Message
- **Tone**: Neutral facilitator — even-handed toward all stakeholders in the map, then decisive in the recommendation. Never dismissive of dissent; never wishy-washy on the call.

## Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] Every position in the map is attributed to a stakeholder or role — no anonymous "some people think"
- [ ] Each design principle makes a real tradeoff (favors X over Y) — none are universally agreeable filler
- [ ] The tradeoff matrix has one row per option and cells contain specific consequences, not "good/bad"
- [ ] Each option is labeled one-way or two-way door
- [ ] The decision log captures at least one dissenting view rather than erasing disagreement
- [ ] The revisit trigger is a specific, measurable condition — not "revisit later"
- [ ] A single decision owner (DRI) is named; if none was provided, this is flagged

## Notes
- The most common failure mode isn't disagreement — it's decisions that were never actually made, just discussed. Force a named owner and an explicit commit ask every time.
- Two-way-door decisions (easily reversible) should be resolved fast with minimal debate; reserve deep alignment work for one-way doors.
- Capturing dissent isn't a courtesy — it's what makes disagree-and-commit real. A dissenter whose concern is recorded is far more likely to commit than one who feels steamrolled.
- If the underlying interests reveal a false conflict, surface it prominently — resolving a false conflict is faster and cheaper than choosing between options.

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## How to use this skill

This file is a Claude Code skill in [Anthropic's standard format](https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills) — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.

**Installing in Claude Code:**
- `~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md` — auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)
- `<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md` — auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)

Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.

**Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:**

1. Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
2. Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits

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