north-star

north-star — the guiding star, the goal, and the path

What this skill does

Defines the organisation's North Star in three layers, kept distinct:

• The star — the guiding statement (what the organisation is for and where it is heading) plus the one metric that captures the value delivered. The enduring direction.
• The goal — that metric reaching a target value by a date. The concrete destination.
• The milestones — the staged checkpoints on the way to the goal. The path.

It is question-led and ends locked as trusted when the user is satisfied. There is one North Star, so one file, relocked as it is refined.

The star is stable, the goal and milestones move

The star is meant to endure. The goal and milestones change as the organisation progresses and as reality bites. The file marks which is which, so refining a target later does not mean rewriting the star.

Where it sits

The other three skills work bottom-up: brainstorm opens options, pain-point grounds them, wwwh structures conclusions. The North Star is top-down, the fixed point they navigate by. Set or refine it here, then every service, pain and wwwh conclusion can be tested with one question: does this move us toward the North Star.

What each layer is, and is not

• Statement — one sentence, the fixed point the organisation is heading toward.
• Metric — ONE number. It captures the value the customer gets, it leads rather than lags, and it is hard to game. If it goes up, the organisation is genuinely winning. NOT a vanity metric (signups, page views, headcount), NOT a list of metrics.
• Goal — the metric at a target value, by a date. Both the number and the date are required, and both must be grounded in real figures or the user, never invented. A goal with no date, or a made-up target, is not a goal.
• Milestones — a short ordered set of checkpoints toward the goal, each a value by a date. They mark real progress, not activity.

Before anything else

Read the shared backbone in full. It is at ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/reference/shared.md, or if that variable is unset, at <paths.pluginRoot>/reference/shared.md resolved against ${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}/.strategy-skills/config.json. It covers loading the config, the work stages, the evidence discipline, the phase gate and the voice rules, all mandatory here. If .strategy-skills/config.json does not exist, stop and run the setup skill first. Read the organisation name, folders and facts from the config, never hardcode them.

For grounding the metric, the goal and the milestones, reference the real numbers in the configured corpus: paths.research (and any paths.legacy.strategyOutput register, if set) for go-to-market, pricing and financial figures. Read for evidence. Never invent a target or a milestone number — if it is not in the numbers and the user cannot give it, tag it [Lacking-proof].

Operating principles (non-negotiable)

1. Two-way Q&A, mostly you asking.
2. Open questions first. Lead with open questions the user answers in their own words. Multiple choice only to confirm or narrow.
3. Do not force the star. Draw the statement, the metric, the goal and the milestones from the user and the evidence, do not impose your own.
4. Evidence or it is not fact, especially numbers. Every target and milestone number is confirmed at source or tagged [Lacking-proof]. Call bullshit on a vanity metric or an invented target, name it.
5. Visualise. Present 2 to 3 candidate stars (statement plus metric), and show the goal and milestones as a small dated table.
6. The user holds the gate. Draft until the user locks it.
7. Delegate strategy and numbers lookups to sub-agents, keep the questions in the main thread.
8. Lean output, positive on value, honest throughout.

The flow

1. Scope and purpose

Confirm you are setting or refining the company North Star, and why now. Get, in the user's words, what is prompting it.

2. The star — statement and metric

Ask, openly and one at a time: what winning looks like for the organisation (the statement), and the single value that, if it grows, means the organisation is genuinely winning (the metric). Probe past vanity, a number that can rise while the business does not is not the star.

3. Candidate stars

Bring 2 to 3 candidate pairs, each a statement and its one metric, with trade-offs and an evidence note. Recommend one and show why. The user picks.

4. The goal

Set the metric's target value and date, grounded in the real numbers. If the figure is not sourced and the user cannot give it, mark it [Lacking-proof] and do not pretend.

5. The milestones

Set a short ordered set of checkpoints toward the goal, each a value by a date. Same evidence rule on every number.

6. Pressure-test

Is the metric one not many, does it capture real value not vanity, does it lead not lag, can it be gamed. Is the goal time-bound and sourced. Do the milestones add up to the goal, or is there a gap nobody owns.

7. Lock-in gate (user only)

Ask: "Are you satisfied to lock this North Star in as trusted, or do you want to keep going?" Only the user locks it. On the yes, write the file.

Output

Folder: paths.outputs.north-star from the config (create it if missing). One North Star, one file, relocked as it is refined. Lean markdown plus brand-styled HTML.

Sections, in order:

• Purpose — why the North Star is being set or refined now.
• What the user provided — the user's input, in their words.
• The star — the guiding statement and the one metric (with how the metric is defined). The enduring part.
• The goal — the metric's target value and date.
• Milestones — an ordered, dated table of checkpoints toward the goal.
• What it is not — the vanity metrics and decoys deliberately rejected.
• Why this is the star — the reasoning and evidence.
• Evidence ledger — table with tags.
• Open questions and lacking-proof — including any target or milestone number not yet sourced.
• Lock status — Draft or Locked / Trusted, with date, noting that the star is enduring while the goal and milestones are revisited.

Render the HTML. ${PLUGIN_ROOT} is ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} when set, else ${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}/<paths.pluginRoot>. Write into paths.outputs.north-star, and set the title from organisation.name. The renderer reads the config for brand, organisation and author:

python "${PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/generate-html.py" \
  "${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}/<north-star>/YYYY-MM-DD-north-star.md" \
  "${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}/<north-star>/YYYY-MM-DD-north-star.html" \
  --title "<Organisation> North Star" --subtitle "North Star" --status "Locked / Trusted"

Use --status "Draft" until the user locks it.

Red flags — stop

• A vanity metric dressed up as a North Star. Name it.
• More than one metric. The star is one number.
• A goal with no date, or a target or milestone number you invented rather than sourced.
• Milestones that measure activity instead of real progress, or that do not add up to the goal.
• Muddling the layers. The star endures, the goal and milestones move.
• Forcing your own star instead of drawing it from the user and the evidence.
• Asking mostly multiple choice, declaring it done yourself, carrying a [Lacking-proof] number as proven, or a bloated file.