lifecycle-play-advisor
Diagnose where a product sits in its lifecycle and which play fits — extend, replace, or retire. Use when a product is fading and you need the call, not just the worry.
Profile →npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill lifecycle-play-advisor --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Lifecycle Play Advisor ## Purpose Work out what to do with a product that has stopped growing. Three plays are available — **extend**, **replace**, **retire** — and this skill gets you to the right one through diagnosis rather than debate, then hands you to whichever skill executes it. Most teams argue the play before establishing the stage. The argument is unwinnable that way, because nobody has agreed on what's actually happening to the product. Four questions fixes that. This skill is deliberately willing to say **"nothing yet."** A mature product throwing off margin with manageable support cost doesn't need a play; it needs to be left alone and watched. ## Input **Works best with:** The product, and what makes you think something needs to change. **Also useful:** Revenue trend and over how long, support load, what customers say, whether an internal driver (cost, capacity, strategy) is really behind the question, and what investment appetite exists. Anything supplied with the invocation itself — text after the skill name, a pasted context dump, or an appended `ARGUMENTS:` line — counts as answers already given. Use it and skip whatever it covers; don't re-ask. **Arriving empty
- Purpose
- Input
- Key Concepts
- The Three Plays
- Diagnosis Before Play
- The Extension Bias
- Anti-Patterns (what this is NOT)
- Facilitation Source of Truth
- Application
- Question 1 of 4 — What product, and what makes you think something's wrong?
- Question 2 of 4 — Where is it actually in the lifecycle?
- Question 3 of 4 — What's actually driving the pressure?
- Question 4 of 4 — Test the extension play
- Final Step: Recommend the play
What does the lifecycle-play-advisor skill do?
Diagnose where a product sits in its lifecycle and which play fits — extend, replace, or retire. Use when a product is fading and you need the call, not just the worry.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill lifecycle-play-advisor --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills, a repository with 6,444 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.