Factory
Pages

4. Set the direction

This is the first real work on the product, and the most important. You talk with an agent until the product is clear, and the agent writes it down. Every later session reads what you settle here. Allow an hour or more.

You start with: an empty hub and an idea.

You finish with: context/ filled in, and a short list of the next work.

#The steps

  1. #Open a session in the hub

    Run this in a terminal, or in a new tab of the hub's space in Herdr:

    cd ~/code/fieldnote/fieldnote-hub && claude

  2. #Paste the first prompt

    Change the words in the brackets.

    /grill-with-docs I want to build [an app where field officers log visits, also with no signal] for [program teams at NGOs]. Grill me on who it is for, the problem, what it replaces, and what it won't do. Do not plan features yet.

  3. #Answer the rounds

    The agent asks a group of numbered questions, and gives its recommended answer for each one. Reply with the number and your answer. To accept a recommendation, say yes.

    Q1 yes. Q2 no: they use paper forms, then a spreadsheet at the office. Q3 yes.

    Each round opens the next questions. The agent looks up facts by itself, so it asks you only for decisions. It also questions your words: if you say "user" and "member" for one thing, it asks which one you mean.

    It asks for permission to write to context/. Say yes. This is the one session where an agent writes there directly, because you decide each item.

    Say what you do not know. "I don't know yet, and I need to try it" is a good answer. It becomes an exploration in the next step.

  4. #Check the result

    When the agent has no more questions, ask it to show what it wrote. Read these files yourself:

    FileIt should say
    context/positioning.mdWho it is for, the problem, what it replaces
    context/non-goals.mdWhat the product will not do, and why
    context/glossary.mdOne word for each thing in the product
    context/decisions/The decisions that are hard to change, with the reasons

  5. #Close the session

    The session still remembers all that you said, so write down the next work now.

    Write down the next work

    Paste this in the same session. It shows you the list before it writes a file.

    Before we stop, go back over this session and list three things, for me to approve:
1. Questions that only research or building can answer. Each one becomes an exploration.
2. Feature ideas that came up. Each one becomes a line in inbox.md.
3. The small first task that proves the gates work.
Show me the list first. Then write the explorations and the inbox lines.
Leave the first task for me to start with New. Then commit and push the hub.

    Change the list until it is right. Then let it write the files. Type /exit when it is done.

#You are done when

  • You read the four parts of context/, and they are true.
  • The Explorations tab of the panel lists your open questions.
  • The Inbox tab lists your ideas.
  • You know the small first task. The agent named it.

The panel updates from GitHub each minute. Press Refresh to update it now.

#How you know what to work on

You now have three lists, in this order:

  1. The small first task. Do this next.
  2. The explorations. Do these after it.
  3. The inbox. Leave it for now.

#Next

5. Build your first task. It comes before the explorations, so that you know the checks work before you depend on them.