Intelligence Collection Disciplines

Purpose

Stop doing competitive research like a term paper. The intelligence community solved this problem decades ago: they don't collect "data," they run collection disciplines, independent channels, each with its own sources, tradecraft, and blind spots, and then they fuse them. This skill gives product managers that playbook: eight disciplines, each telling you (1) what to collect, (2) where to collect it, (3) which signal → inference chains to run, and (4) which PM artifact it feeds (TAM/SAM/SOM, ICPs, personas, battle cards, roadmap bets, win/loss, positioning, pricing). One signal is an anecdote; three correlated signals from independent disciplines is intelligence.

Input

Works best with the six instantiation variables below, fill them once and every discipline becomes engagement-specific. Leave them blank and this stays a teaching artifact.

[TARGET]      = The competitor, partner, or acquirer you're researching
[MARKET]      = The category and its NAICS/SIC/NACE codes (or nearest equivalent)
[GEOGRAPHY]   = Regions in scope, at COUNTRY level, not continent level
[BUYER]       = Who signs the check (drives review sites, job titles, conferences)
[CAPABILITY]  = The strategic move you suspect (platform play, market entry,
                pricing shift, compliance land-grab, etc.)
[DECISION]    = What this research will change (roadmap bet, positioning,
                pricing, market entry, deal defense, ICP refresh)

If [DECISION] is blank, stop. Research without a decision is a hobby.

Anything supplied with the invocation itself, text after the skill name, a pasted context dump, or an appended ARGUMENTS: line, counts as variables already filled. Use it; don't re-ask.

Arriving empty-handed? That works too. Read the disciplines as a course in tradecraft, or ask the agent to walk the instantiation block with you one variable at a time.