# Lifecycle Play Advisor

Diagnose where a product sits in its lifecycle and which play fits, extend, replace...

- Repository: https://github.com/deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills (7825 stars)
- Category: Engineering
- License: see repository
- Last updated: 2026-10-16
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill lifecycle-play-advisor -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill lifecycle-play-advisor -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill lifecycle-play-advisor -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill lifecycle-play-advisor -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills`

## Description

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.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# 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-handed? That works too.** The diagnosis runs on questions a PM can answer from
what they already know, no report-pulling required. "I don't know" is a valid answer and becomes a
labeled assumption in the recommendation.

**Example invocations:**
- `Our reporting module has been flat six quarters and people want to rebuild it. Extend, replace, or retire?`
- `Leadership wants to kill our parts module. Walk me through whether that's right.`

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## Key Concepts

### The Three Plays

The rest: https://github.com/deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills/blob/HEAD/skills/lifecycle-play-advisor/SKILL.md