Evaluate Strategic Option

Evaluate Strategic Option

When to use

Major strategic decisions needing staging, steelmanned case against, downside sizing, and pre-commitment kill criteria — not binary go/no-go.

What this skill does not do

• Does not evaluate vague topics — requires committable decision with scope, scale, timing.
• Does not soften case against for sponsors — steelman is mandatory.
• Does not pick winner when trade-offs unquantifiable — say so.
• Does not ship board-final without GATE.

Preconditions

| Input | If missing | |---|---| | Corporate-strategy + org profiles | [PROVISIONAL] balanced posture | | Precise option statement | Ask once to narrow |

Provisional mode

[PROVISIONAL] on risk posture; structured first pass if downside inputs missing.

Trust spine

• Strategic advice vs. support (mandatory): Trade-offs and triggers; IC/board owns decision.
• Per trust-conventions for sourcing, assumptions, numbers, confidence, GATE.

Workflow

Step 1: State option precisely

Reject vague topics; require committable decision.

Step 2: Staging checklist

If plausible: initial commitment, scale trigger, abandon trigger, learning objective. If not: say why.

Step 3: Case for (brief)

3–5 bullets; tag unsourced claims.

Step 4: Case against (steelman — mandatory)

Hardest assumption, cannibalization, timing illusion, integration load, comparable bias, reversibility, sponsor momentum — apply checklist.

Step 5: Downside sizing + survivability test

Direct loss, opportunity cost, reputation, org strain. Survivable on failure: yes/no/unclear with evidence.

Step 6: Kill criteria (pre-commitment)

Dated, specific; stage-1 vs full-program if staged.

Step 7: Recommendation

Proceed staged | proceed in full | do not proceed — with confidence band.

Output format

CONFIDENCE: [...]
LOAD-BEARING ASSUMPTIONS: [...]
OPTION: [precise decision]
CAN THIS BE STAGED: [...]
CASE FOR: [...]
CASE AGAINST (steelman): [...]
DOWNSIDE SIZING: [table]
SURVIVABLE ON FAILURE: [...]
KILL CRITERIA: [...]
RECOMMENDATION: [...]

Worked example

Input: Acquire Company X at $Ym by Q3.

Excerpt: Staged: $Zm pilot with scale trigger on retention ≥X%; case against surfaces integration load on named function; kill criteria by date if metric below threshold; recommendation proceed staged [review].

Quality checks before delivering

• [ ] Committable option, not topic
• [ ] Staging checklist applied
• [ ] Steelman case against
• [ ] Survivability answered
• [ ] Kill criteria dated and specific

Propose profile update

When a stable convention surfaces during this run (thresholds, naming, tone, output format, or recurring corrections), propose a profile update: show the exact diff against ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-strategy/corporate-strategy/CLAUDE.md (org-wide facts go to org-profile.md), ask for confirmation, and write only on yes. Only /corporate-strategy:practice-setup auto-applies a full profile write.

Outputs

Follows plugin CLAUDE.md § Outputs. Next: IC memo, synergy-stress-test, or exit-or-double-down.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: daddia
• Source: daddia/claude-for-strategy
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.