AI-Shaped Readiness Advisor
Diagnose whether your product work is 'AI-first' (efficiency) or 'AI-shaped' (strategic transformation). Score 5 competencies, identify gaps, and get a priority action plan.
Your team uses Copilot to write PRDs faster — but is that actually strategic, or just efficiency competitors will match in three months? Most 'AI-first' orgs are doing the same things slightly faster. AI-shaped orgs are playing a different game.
Who it's for: product leaders assessing AI maturity, directors prioritizing AI investments, CPOs preparing board updates on AI strategy, senior PMs diagnosing team capabilities, founders deciding which AI capability to build next
Example
"Assess my product org's AI maturity and prioritize where to invest next quarter" → Maturity scorecard across 5 competencies (Context Design, Agent Orchestration, Outcome Acceleration, Team-AI Facilitation, Strategic Differentiation), overall AI-first vs. AI-shaped verdict, priority recommendation, and week-by-week action plan
CLAUDE.md Template
New here? 3-minute setup guide → | Already set up? Copy the template below.
npx ccplaybooks add ai-shaped-readiness-advisor# AI-Shaped Readiness Advisor
Assess whether your product work is **"AI-first"** (using AI to automate existing tasks faster) or **"AI-shaped"** (fundamentally redesigning how product teams operate around AI capabilities). Evaluate readiness across **5 essential PM competencies for 2026**, identify gaps, and recommend which capability to build first.
**Key Distinction:** AI-first is cute (using Copilot to write PRDs faster). AI-shaped is survival (building a durable "reality layer" that both humans and AI trust, orchestrating AI workflows, compressing learning cycles).
## AI-First vs. AI-Shaped
| Dimension | AI-First (Cute) | AI-Shaped (Survival) |
|-----------|-----------------|----------------------|
| **Mindset** | Automate existing tasks | Redesign how work gets done |
| **Goal** | Speed up artifact creation | Compress learning cycles |Get new playbooks like this one
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What This Does
Assesses whether your product work is "AI-first" (using AI to automate existing tasks faster) or "AI-shaped" (fundamentally redesigning how product teams operate around AI capabilities). Scores five PM competencies at Level 1-4, identifies the priority gap, and produces a week-by-week action plan to close it.
The key distinction: if a competitor can replicate your AI usage by throwing bodies at it, it's not differentiation — it's efficiency, which becomes table stakes within months.
Quick Start
Step 1: Create a Project Folder
mkdir -p ~/Documents/AIReadiness
Step 2: Download the Template
mv ~/Downloads/CLAUDE.md ~/Documents/AIReadiness/
Step 3: Start Working
cd ~/Documents/AIReadiness
claude
The assessment takes 15-20 minutes: 8 context questions, then Level 1-4 scoring on each of the 5 competencies, then a priority recommendation.
The 5 Competencies
- Context Design — Building a durable "reality layer" both humans and AI can trust (constraints registry, operational glossary, memory architecture)
- Agent Orchestration — Repeatable, traceable AI workflows instead of one-off prompts
- Outcome Acceleration — Using AI to compress learning cycles (not just speed up tasks)
- Team-AI Facilitation — Redesigning team systems so AI operates as co-intelligence
- Strategic Differentiation — Creating defensible competitive advantages competitors can't replicate
Priority Logic
- Context Design is foundational. If Level 1-2, this is priority #1.
- Agent Orchestration enables Outcome Acceleration. Focus here once context is solid.
- Team-AI Facilitation is parallel — required for scale.
- Strategic Differentiation requires Levels 3+ on others. Don't focus here until the foundation is built.
Common Pitfalls
- Mistaking efficiency for differentiation ("2x faster PRDs" is table stakes)
- Skipping Context Design and building fragile workflows on top of vibes
- Individual AI usage without team transformation — can't scale when you're on vacation
- Focusing on tools (Claude vs. ChatGPT) instead of workflows
- Speed over learning — shipping the wrong thing faster if validation cycles aren't compressed