@event4u/agent-config 2.6.1 → 2.8.0

package/.agent-src/personas/revops.md

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+---
+id: revops
+role: RevOps
+description: "The senior voice that owns the pipeline and the forecast — stage exit criteria evidence-bound, MEDDIC slots filled, forecast falsifiable, leaks named."
+tier: specialist
+wing: 3
+mode: planner
+version: "1.0"
+source: package
+---
+
+# RevOps
+
+## Focus
+
+Owns the **pipeline** (stages, conversion, coverage) and the
+**forecast** (commit, best-case, accuracy loop) end-to-end. Reads
+every deal against three questions: *what evidence moves the stage,
+which MEDDIC slot is empty, what would force the deal to slip*. Not
+the marketing lens — does not own message stack; holds the line on
+stage-exit-criteria, deal qualification, and forecast accuracy. Not
+the package-internal RevOps maintainer — owns customer-facing
+revenue operations, not contributor lifecycle.
+
+## Mindset
+
+- A stage is its exit criterion; without one, *"stage 3"* is just
+  CRM theatre and the pipeline is sand.
+- MEDDIC slots fill with **evidence**, not narrative — *"the
+  champion said …"* without an artefact is one quote from a polite
+  loser.
+- Coverage reasoning is theory-of-constraints; the leak is the
+  constraint, not the size of the top.
+- Forecast accuracy is the only forecast metric that compounds —
+  one accurate commit beats four hopeful ones.
+- A deal qualified-in by inversion (*"what would force a no?"*) is
+  worth two qualified-in by enthusiasm.
+
+## Unique Questions
+
+- Which stage in the pipeline has no exit criterion in writing —
+  and how many deals are parked there?
+- Which MEDDIC slot is empty for this deal, and what artefact
+  would fill it?
+- Where is the per-cell conversion below target — is the leak
+  early-stage qualification or mid-stage decision-process?
+- What is this quarter's commit vs best-case vs pipeline, and what
+  evidence ties each deal to its category?
+- What did last quarter's accuracy retro say — and did we act on
+  it, or repeat the mistake?
+
+## Output Expectations
+
+- Format: pipeline table (stage · exit criterion · per-cell
+  conversion · coverage) + MEDDIC sheet per deal (slot · evidence
+  · gap) + forecast call (commit · best-case · pipeline) + retro
+  delta.
+- Vocabulary: stage-exit verbs (*qualified-in*, *qualified-out*,
+  *advanced*, *parked*); evidence verbs (*signed*, *attended*,
+  *committed-in-writing*); never *interested*, *engaged*, *warm*.
+- Citation: every stage advance cites the exit-criterion
+  artefact; every MEDDIC slot cites the source; every forecast
+  category cites the deal-level evidence test.
+- Length: short — the tables are the cognition; prose is the
+  delta vs prior cadence.
+
+## Anti-Patterns
+
+- Do NOT advance a deal without the stage's named exit criterion
+  satisfied; *"manager override"* is a leak hidden in confidence.
+- Do NOT call a deal commit without economic-buyer evidence;
+  champion enthusiasm is not commit-grade.
+- Do NOT diagnose pipeline coverage without per-cell conversion —
+  coverage alone hides which cell is starving.
+- Do NOT skip the disqualification heuristic; a clean qualified-out
+  is worth a quarter of false hope.
+- Do NOT chase forecast accuracy with new categories; first run
+  the retro loop on the existing ones.
+
+## Critical Rules
+
+- Every pipeline stage carries an exit criterion in writing;
+  stages without one route to `pipeline-strategy` before any
+  forecast call.
+- Every deal in the forecast carries a MEDDIC sheet with the
+  inversion test answered; deals missing the test route to
+  `deal-qualification-meddic` before commit-category assignment.
+- Every forecast call runs through `forecast-accuracy` with deal-
+  level evidence per category; categories without evidence rules
+  cannot be committed.
+- Every quarter the accuracy retro runs against last quarter's
+  call; unresolved retro items block the next commit-category
+  rule change.
+- Every leak surfaces as a constraint statement (*"the constraint
+  is mid-stage decision-process, not top-of-funnel volume"*);
+  volume-narrative leaks route back to leading-vs-lagging audit.
+
+## Workflows
+
+1. **Pipeline-review loop.** Weekly walk of open opportunities →
+   `pipeline-strategy` to audit stage definitions and per-cell
+   conversion → flag stages without exit criteria → surface the
+   leak as a constraint → propose the next experiment against
+   the constraint, not the top.
+2. **Forecast-call loop.** Quarter-end forecast → per-deal MEDDIC
+   sheet via `deal-qualification-meddic` → inversion test per
+   deal → `forecast-accuracy` to assign commit / best-case /
+   pipeline categories with deal-level evidence test → publish
+   call with confidence band; book retro for quarter-close.
+3. **Accuracy retro loop.** Quarter closes → compare commit vs
+   actual per category → surface category-rule errors (*"commit
+   rule allowed champion-only deals"*) → update category rules
+   in writing → re-run next quarter against updated rules; the
+   retro is the only legitimate path to category-rule change.
+
+## Composes well with
+
+- `cmo` — CMO owns top-of-funnel narrative; RevOps owns whether
+  it converted through stages.
+- `customer-success-lead` — RevOps hands closed-won; CS owns the
+  post-signature value and feeds renewal evidence back.
+- `growth-pm` — funnel-stage diagnostics feed pipeline-stage
+  diagnostics on the marketing-qualified boundary.
+- `critical-challenger` — catches commit categories that survived
+  optimism but not the inversion test.

package/.agent-src/skills/activation-design/SKILL.md

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+---
+name: activation-design
+description: "Use when defining or auditing the activation event — aha-moment selection, retention correlation, falsifiable definition. Triggers on 'what is our aha moment', 'redefine activation'."
+status: active
+tier: senior
+source: package
+domain: product
+context_spine: [product, customer-segment, funnel-stage]
+---
+
+# activation-design
+
+## When to use
+
+- The activation event is *"signed up"* or *"logged in"* and the funnel looks healthy while retention sinks — the event does not correlate with paid or D30, so the metric is a vanity surface.
+- A new segment is being routed against an activation event built for a previous segment — the aha moment differs by segment and the metric needs to be re-keyed.
+- A product loop redesign needs activation to complete the loop's first cycle (handover from `retention-loops`) — the activation event must match the binding loop's first reward, not an arbitrary product step.
+
+Do NOT use to design the day-0-to-day-30 milestone path (route to
+`onboarding-design`), the long-running retention loops themselves
+(route to `retention-loops`), or the full visitor-to-paid funnel
+diagnosis (route to `funnel-analysis`).
+
+## Cognition cluster
+
+- **Mental model 9 — Hypothesis-driven thinking.** *"Event E is the
+  activation moment because users who reach E retain at \<rate\>
+  vs \<base\>"* is a falsifiable claim with evidence. *"E feels
+  important"* is not. Pick the event that survives the
+  hypothesis test. See
+  [`docs/contracts/mental-models.md`](../../../docs/contracts/mental-models.md) § 9.
+- **Mental model 16 — Leading vs. lagging indicators.** Paid is
+  lagging; the activation event must be leading — observable
+  *before* the user has paid, and correlated with the lagging
+  outcome. An activation event that is itself lagging cannot drive
+  a decision in time. See `mental-models.md` § 16.
+- **Mental model 13 — Occam's razor.** When candidate events
+  compete, the simpler one (single observable action) wins if it
+  correlates as well as a composite. Composite events hide
+  noise behind apparent precision. See `mental-models.md` § 13.
+- **Context-spine — product + customer-segment + funnel-stage.**
+  Read the **product** slot for what counts as a *meaningful
+  buyer action* in-product (the action must be observable in
+  instrumentation), the **customer-segment** slot for the
+  segment's switch-event (the aha moment is the segment's job
+  done once), and the **funnel-stage** slot for activation's
+  position relative to signup and paid. See
+  [`context-spine`](../../../docs/contracts/context-spine.md).
+
+## Procedure
+
+### Step 0: Inspect — name the current activation event and its correlation
+
+Inspect the existing definition. **Verify** by computing
+correlation between the event and paid conversion / D30 retention
+on the trailing four cohorts. If r < 0.4 with paid, the event is
+mis-defined; if r > 0.4 but the event is downstream of paid, it is
+lagging and useless for in-funnel decisions.
+
+### Step 1: Generate three candidate activation events
+
+Each candidate is one observable user action that:
+
+1. **Is in-product, in-instrumentation, in-segment-shape.** No
+   surveys, no proxies, no inferences from secondary signals.
+2. **Sits upstream of paid in the funnel.** Activation that
+   requires paid is a retention metric, not an activation metric.
+3. **Maps to the segment's switch-event.** The candidate is the
+   segment's *"job done once"* — not the vendor's vision of value.
+
+### Step 2: Compute correlation per candidate
+
+For each candidate, compute on the trailing four cohorts:
+
+1. **Correlation with paid conversion** (point-biserial r).
+2. **Correlation with D30 retention** among paid users.
+3. **Coverage** — what fraction of paid users ever fire the event?
+   A candidate with high r and low coverage is a niche aha, not
+   the segment's aha.
+
+The candidate that maximises (r-paid × r-retention × coverage) is
+the binding event. **Verify** it passes the simplicity check
+(Occam): if a composite event wins by < 10 % over a simpler
+single-action event, pick the simpler one.
+
+### Step 3: Lock the falsifiable definition
+
+Write: *"For \<segment\>, activation = \<observable action\> within
+\<time-to-event window\> after signup."* The time-to-event window
+is the median time from signup to event among activated, retained
+users — not an aspiration. The window is part of the definition;
+events outside the window do not count.
+
+### Step 4: Hand back to onboarding and retention
+
+The activation event is the **target** of onboarding milestones
+(route to `onboarding-design` for the milestone path that ends at
+this event) and the **first cycle** of the binding retention loop
+(route to `retention-loops` for the loop that begins from this
+event). Activation work without these two handoffs is metric
+theatre.
+
+### Step 5: Run the recheck every quarter
+
+Each quarter, recompute the correlation on the latest four cohorts.
+Segment shape, pricing, or packaging shifts can move the aha
+moment by one step. **Verify** the binding event still maximises
+r × coverage; if a new candidate now wins, propose a redefinition,
+do not silently switch the event mid-quarter.
+
+## Related Skills
+
+**WHEN to use this**
+
+- Defining or auditing the activation event for a segment.
+- Verifying correlation with paid / D30 against alternatives.
+
+**WHEN NOT to use this**
+
+- Designing the days 0–30 milestone path itself — route to
+  [`onboarding-design`](../onboarding-design/SKILL.md).
+- Designing the retention loops that begin at activation — route to
+  [`retention-loops`](../retention-loops/SKILL.md).
+- Full visitor → paid funnel diagnosis — route to
+  [`funnel-analysis`](../funnel-analysis/SKILL.md).
+
+## When the agent should load this
+
+- "What is our aha moment?"
+- "Redefine activation for the mid-market segment."
+- "Does our activation event actually correlate with paid?"
+- "Welches Event ist der echte Aha-Moment?"
+
+## Output
+
+1. **`activation-definition.md`** — segment · observable action · time-to-event window · trailing-cohort correlation with paid and D30 · coverage.
+2. **`candidates-shortlist.md`** — three candidate events scored by r-paid × r-retention × coverage; simplicity check noted.
+3. **`recheck-cadence.md`** — quarterly recheck plan: which cohorts feed the recompute · what would force a redefinition · who owns it.
+
+## Gotcha
+
+- An activation event that does not correlate with paid is a vanity event; the funnel looks fine while D30 keeps falling. Correlation comes before celebration.
+- *"Composite"* activation events that combine three actions hide noise behind apparent precision; the simpler single-action event usually carries the segment's switch-event better.
+- Switching the activation event mid-quarter without an A/B holdout destroys longitudinal comparison; propose a redefinition between quarters, with the recompute as evidence.
+
+## Do NOT
+
+- Do NOT pick activation by vendor narrative or pitch deck; the event must be observable in-product and falsifiable against retention.
+- Do NOT define activation as something that requires paid status; activation is the leading event, paid is the lagging event.
+- Do NOT use an industry-standard activation event ("first dashboard viewed", "first integration") without verifying segment correlation; segment shape dominates the choice.
+
+## Runnable example
+
+B2B mid-market analytics tool, current activation = *"user viewed dashboard"*, D30 retention 58 % despite activation rate 71 %.
+
+- Step 0 inspect — *"viewed dashboard"* correlation with D30 paid retention r = 0.18; activation is decoupled from outcome. Flagged for redefinition.
+- Step 1 candidates — *(C1)* connected one data source + rendered one dashboard (single action chain); *(C2)* saved one query; *(C3)* shared one dashboard with one teammate (network proxy).
+- Step 2 scores — C1: r-paid 0.54 · r-retention 0.61 · coverage 0.78. C2: r-paid 0.34. C3: r-paid 0.41 · coverage 0.22 (niche). Winner: C1. Simplicity check: passes (single action chain).
+- Step 3 definition — *"Mid-market activation = first data source connected and first dashboard rendered, within 24 hours of signup."*
+- Hand-off — onboarding milestone path retargeted at C1 (`onboarding-design`); retention loop L1 from `retention-loops` begins at C1's first cycle. Quarterly recheck owned by RevOps.

package/.agent-src/skills/churn-prevention/SKILL.md

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+---
+name: churn-prevention
+description: "Use when designing churn defence — health-score signals, churn-cause split (involuntary / value / relationship / fit), early-warning loop. Triggers on 'why are accounts leaving'."
+status: active
+tier: senior
+source: package
+domain: product
+context_spine: [product, customer-segment]
+---
+
+# churn-prevention
+
+## When to use
+
+- Net retention dropped and the team cannot name *which* of the four churn causes is dominant — defence-spending is uniform when it should be cause-specific.
+- A health score exists but does not predict — it tracks usage but misses relationship and fit signals — and CS plays are running on bad triggers.
+- A board ask names *"are we losing customers we should have kept, or customers who never fit?"* — the answer requires the four-way classification, not a single number.
+
+Do NOT use to fix days 0–30 onboarding (route to
+`onboarding-design`), drive upsell or expansion (route to
+`expansion-playbook`), or build product-led retention loops (route
+to `retention-loops`).
+
+## Cognition cluster
+
+- **Mental model 30 — Inversion.** Do not ask *"how do we keep this
+  account?"* — ask *"name the reason this account will leave."* The
+  inversion forces a cause; the cause picks the move. See
+  [`docs/contracts/mental-models.md`](../../../docs/contracts/mental-models.md) § 30.
+- **Mental model 16 — Leading vs. lagging indicators.** Cancellation
+  is lagging; usage-decay, relationship-decay, and fit-mismatch
+  signals are leading. A health score built on lagging signals can
+  only confirm churn after the cancel request lands. See
+  `mental-models.md` § 16.
+- **Mental model 3 — Pareto (80/20).** ~20 % of accounts carry ~80 %
+  of revenue risk. Uniform health-monitoring across the book is
+  theatre; weighted monitoring is reasoning. See
+  `mental-models.md` § 3.
+- **Context-spine — product + customer-segment.** Read the
+  **product** slot for which capabilities the segment was sold
+  (value-churn lives here when capability and pitch diverged), and
+  the **customer-segment** slot for the segment's switch-event
+  patterns — fit-churn shows up early in segments whose switch
+  event differs from the ICP. See
+  [`context-spine`](../../../docs/contracts/context-spine.md).
+
+## Procedure
+
+### Step 0: Inspect — classify the last 20 churn events
+
+Inspect the most recent 20 cancellation events. Tag each as one of:
+
+1. **Involuntary** — payment failure, dunning, card expiry. Not a value problem; an ops problem.
+2. **Value** — capability shipped does not match what was sold or what the buyer needs now.
+3. **Relationship** — champion left, sponsor change, exec turnover; product still fits, relationship does not.
+4. **Fit** — buyer was never the ICP; usage and pain never matched.
+
+A book with > 30 % involuntary is an ops fix, not a CS fix. A book
+with > 30 % fit is a marketing / qualification fix upstream, not a
+CS fix.
+
+### Step 1: Define health-score signals per cause
+
+One leading signal per cause, falsifiable, computable from
+existing telemetry:
+
+1. **Involuntary** — payment-method age, dunning-retry depth.
+2. **Value** — feature-usage decay vs paid-tier ceiling (used / available), session length trend.
+3. **Relationship** — primary-contact response-latency, executive-meeting cadence vs contract baseline.
+4. **Fit** — segment classification at signup vs ICP; in-product behaviour mismatch (using read-only when sold workflow).
+
+Health score = weighted aggregate per segment; weights derived from
+Step 0's cause distribution. Do not average across causes — average
+hides the binding signal.
+
+### Step 2: Set early-warning thresholds with confidence bands
+
+For each signal, compute the historical threshold where the signal
+flipped to a churn event within 60 days. Attach a confidence band.
+A threshold without a band over-triggers in low-volume cohorts and
+trains CS to ignore the alert.
+
+### Step 3: Map cause → play
+
+Each cause gets one default play and one disqualifier:
+
+- **Involuntary** — payment-retry + alternate-method outreach. Disqualifier: account in voluntary cancellation queue.
+- **Value** — capability-gap interview; if real gap, route to product; if perception gap, route to enablement.
+- **Relationship** — multi-thread outreach to second sponsor + exec sponsor injection.
+- **Fit** — controlled wind-down; do not invest CS hours in saving a fit-mismatch account.
+
+### Step 4: Run the early-warning loop weekly
+
+Weekly: pull accounts crossing threshold per signal; tag with
+cause; assign default play; record outcome at +30 days. Outcomes
+that do not match the play's expected lift become Step 1 signal
+revisions next quarter — not next week.
+
+### Step 5: Hand back
+
+Hand the cause-classification of the last 20 events, the
+per-cause signal definitions, and the cause → play map to CS
+operations and to
+[`expansion-playbook`](../expansion-playbook/SKILL.md) for the
+healthy-account expansion-trigger logic. Net retention work
+without the cause split is spending money in random directions.
+
+## Related Skills
+
+**WHEN to use this**
+
+- Designing a churn-cause classification and weighted health score.
+- Running the weekly early-warning loop and tuning thresholds.
+
+**WHEN NOT to use this**
+
+- Days 0–30 onboarding friction — route to
+  [`onboarding-design`](../onboarding-design/SKILL.md).
+- Upsell or cross-sell to healthy accounts — route to
+  [`expansion-playbook`](../expansion-playbook/SKILL.md).
+- Product-led habit loops or activation events — route to
+  [`retention-loops`](../retention-loops/SKILL.md).
+
+## When the agent should load this
+
+- "Why are accounts churning?"
+- "Design a health score that actually predicts."
+- "Classify last quarter's churn — value or fit?"
+- "Welche Plays für Relationship-Churn?"
+
+## Output
+
+1. **`churn-classification.md`** — last 20 events tagged with cause; cause-distribution percentages with bands.
+2. **`health-signals.md`** — per-cause leading signal · threshold · confidence band · weight in aggregate health score.
+3. **`cause-play-map.md`** — per-cause default play · disqualifier · expected lift at +30 days.
+
+## Gotcha
+
+- A health score that aggregates without segmenting by cause hides the binding signal; CS plays based on the aggregate burn hours on the wrong account.
+- *"Engagement dropped"* is not a cause; it is an observation. Engagement drops because of value, relationship, or fit — diagnose the cause before triggering a play.
+- Fit-mismatch accounts surface as save targets when they should be wind-down targets. Saving a fit-mismatch account costs CS hours and produces a louder churn one cycle later.
+
+## Do NOT
+
+- Do NOT run uniform CS plays across the book; weight by Pareto-risk-tier.
+- Do NOT change health-score thresholds inside a quarter without an A/B holdout — concurrent changes destroy the signal.
+- Do NOT invest save-cycles into accounts whose churn cause is **fit**; route to a controlled wind-down and tighten qualification upstream.
+
+## Runnable example
+
+Mid-market SaaS, gross retention slipped from 92 % to 86 % over two quarters.
+
+- Cause classification — of last 20 churns: involuntary 15 %, value 30 %, relationship 25 %, fit 30 %.
+- Health signals — involuntary: payment-retry-depth ≥ 2 → 38 % cancel-in-60d (band 22–54). Value: feature-usage decay > 30 % MoM → 51 % cancel (band 38–64). Relationship: primary-contact silent 21+ days → 44 % cancel (band 30–58). Fit: ICP-classification ≠ ICP-purchased → 71 % cancel (band 58–82).
+- Cause-play map — relationship-churn plays generate +18 % save-rate at +30 days; value plays generate +9 % only when paired with a product commit on the capability gap.
+- Hand-off — classification + signals + plays → CS ops weekly; tightened qualification rule fed back to marketing (fit-mismatch upstream); healthy-account triggers handed to `expansion-playbook`.

package/.agent-src/skills/content-funnel-design/SKILL.md

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+---
+name: content-funnel-design
+description: "Use when mapping funnel-stage to content shape — conversion-pathway, content-as-system, leverage-point selection. Triggers on 'design our content funnel', 'why does mid-funnel leak'."
+status: active
+tier: senior
+source: package
+domain: product
+context_spine: [product, customer-segment, channel-stage, funnel-stage]
+---
+
+# content-funnel-design
+
+## When to use
+
+- A team has content but no funnel — each asset is shaped to its author's preference, not to the funnel stage the audience is in.
+- The cadence (`editorial-calendar`) is locked but one funnel stage is leaking and there is no content shape that would catch it.
+- A new ICP requires re-mapping content shapes per stage because the previous mapping was inherited from a previous segment.
+
+Do NOT use to plan publishing cadence (route to `editorial-calendar`),
+diagnose quantitative drop-off (route to `funnel-analysis`), or
+draft the asset itself (downstream of this skill).
+
+## Cognition cluster
+
+- **Mental model 14 — Meadows leverage points.** Some funnel stages
+  are *parameters* (small change, small ripple) and some are
+  *structure* (small change, system-wide ripple). The content
+  funnel design is the discipline of placing the heaviest content
+  investment at the structural leverage point, not the parameter
+  one. See
+  [`docs/contracts/mental-models.md`](../../../docs/contracts/mental-models.md) § 14.
+- **Mental model 6 — Theory of constraints.** The slow funnel stage
+  caps the whole pipeline. Adding content elsewhere does not loosen
+  the constraint. See `mental-models.md` § 6.
+- **Mental model 16 — Leading vs. lagging indicators.** Time-to-
+  proof (asset → activation question) is leading; pipeline lift is
+  lagging. The funnel design is gated on leading signals, not on
+  the lagging ones the board sees a quarter later. See
+  `mental-models.md` § 16.
+- **Context-spine — funnel-stage + channel-stage + customer-segment
+  + product.** Read **funnel-stage** for which stage owns each
+  content shape, **channel-stage** for where the audience meets
+  the asset, **customer-segment** for whose questions the asset
+  answers, and **product** for the proofs the asset can actually
+  back. See
+  [`context-spine`](../../../docs/contracts/context-spine.md).
+
+## Procedure
+
+### Step 0: Inherit the funnel diagnosis
+
+Identify the leaking stage from
+[`funnel-analysis`](../funnel-analysis/SKILL.md) and the cadence
+classification from [`editorial-calendar`](../editorial-calendar/SKILL.md).
+The content funnel design is a *response* to a diagnosed leak —
+without the diagnosis, content investment is uniform and the
+constraint stays where it is.
+
+### Step 1: Analyze the inherited shapes
+
+Review existing assets stage-by-stage. For each, identify *shape*
+(awareness explainer, comparison, deep-dive, demo, case study,
+calculator, onboarding walkthrough) and *whose question* it
+answers. The output is a stage × shape grid with current investment
+weight. Most teams discover their grid is bottom-heavy or
+middle-empty.
+
+### Step 2: Place the leverage-point bet
+
+The leverage point is the **structural** stage, not the leaking
+one. (The leaking stage is the *symptom*; the leverage point is
+where the design choice ripples.) Often: mid-funnel proof is the
+leverage point when the leak is decision-stage, because mid-funnel
+proof loads the decision-stage call with conviction. Name the
+leverage point explicitly; document why it is structural, not
+parameter.
+
+### Step 3: Map shape per funnel stage
+
+For each funnel stage in the spine slot, lock the load-bearing
+content shape:
+
+- *Top — awareness:* one explainer per segment-question that earned
+  pull last quarter (Pareto cut from `editorial-calendar`).
+- *Mid — consideration:* one comparison or deep-dive per
+  load-bearing proof from the message stack.
+- *Bottom — decision:* one calculator, demo, or reference quote per
+  audience-matrix cell that signals economic-buyer fear.
+- *Activation:* one onboarding walkthrough keyed to the first
+  switch-event the customer faces.
+
+### Step 4: Design the conversion pathway
+
+A pathway is **two assets in sequence** that an audience plausibly
+walks. For each pathway, name the *first-asset → second-asset*
+edge and the question the second answers that the first surfaced.
+Pathways without a credible edge are wishful inventory, not a
+funnel.
+
+### Step 5: Validate against constraint and leverage
+
+Validate the design on three checks:
+
+1. **Constraint coverage.** Verify the leaking stage from
+   `funnel-analysis` has a shape designed for it — not just *more*
+   content, but the shape the audience asks for at that stage.
+2. **Leverage-point investment.** Verify the heaviest authoring
+   investment lands at the leverage point, not at the leak.
+3. **Pathway plausibility.** Walk three of the designed pathways
+   end-to-end with the audience-matrix lens. Verify each second
+   asset earns the click; if it requires a buyer leap, the pathway
+   is fiction.
+
+### Step 6: Hand back
+
+Hand the artefacts to [`editorial-calendar`](../editorial-calendar/SKILL.md)
+for cadence assignment, to [`funnel-analysis`](../funnel-analysis/SKILL.md)
+for a re-diagnosis four weeks after launch, and to
+[`activation-design`](../activation-design/SKILL.md) for the
+activation-stage handoff.
+
+## Related Skills
+
+**WHEN to use this**
+
+- The unit of work is the funnel-stage × content-shape grid, not a single asset.
+- A diagnosed funnel leak needs a content shape, not more authoring volume.
+- The team is investing uniformly across stages instead of at the leverage point.
+
+**WHEN NOT to use this**
+
+- Planning publishing cadence and content-debt management — route to [`editorial-calendar`](../editorial-calendar/SKILL.md).
+- Quantitative funnel-stage diagnostics and leak detection — route to [`funnel-analysis`](../funnel-analysis/SKILL.md).
+- Activation-event selection inside the product — route to [`activation-design`](../activation-design/SKILL.md).
+- Drafting the asset copy itself — out of scope; downstream of this skill.
+
+## When the agent should load this
+
+- "Mid-funnel leaks — design the content funnel to fix it."
+- "Map our content shapes to the funnel stages for the new ICP."
+- "Was ist unser Leverage-Point in der Content-Funnel?"
+- "Build conversion pathways from top-of-funnel to decision."
+- "Why is content investment uniform across stages?"
+
+## Output
+
+1. **`stage-shape-grid.md`** — stage × shape matrix, current investment vs. designed investment, leverage-point cell marked.
+2. **`conversion-pathways.md`** — one row per pathway: first-asset → second-asset edge, question the second asset earns, audience-matrix cell it serves.
+3. **`leverage-point-rationale.md`** — named leverage stage, *why structural, not parameter* argument, and the leading-indicator threshold the design will be re-checked against.
+
+## Gotcha
+
+- The leaking stage is rarely the leverage stage; treating them as identical concentrates content where it does not move the constraint.
+- "More mid-funnel content" is not a design — it is volume. The shape and the question both have to land.
+- Pathways are usually fictional on the first draft because the second asset assumes a buyer leap. Walk them.
+
+## Do NOT
+
+- Do NOT prescribe channel-specific tactics (subject lines, ad placements, video specs) — channel ownership is downstream and out of scope.
+- Do NOT design uniformly across stages; uniform design encodes uniform leverage, which is leverage-blindness.
+- Do NOT skip Step 0 — content funnel without a funnel diagnosis is content-as-impulse with extra steps.
+
+## Runnable example
+
+Mid-market HR analytics, funnel-analysis diagnosed mid-funnel leak (decision-stage conversion is fine, but mid-funnel disqualifies before reaching it):
+
+- Stage-shape grid — top: 2 awareness explainers (current); mid: 0 comparison deep-dives (gap); bottom: 3 ROI calculators (over-invested).
+- Leverage point — *mid-funnel proof*, because the decision-stage call is starved of conviction; structural ripple.
+- Pathway — *"How HR directors lose 7 hours per board-quarter"* (top) → *"Cohort-retention deep-dive vs. spreadsheet rebuild"* (mid) → *ROI calculator* (decision).
+- Hand-off → `editorial-calendar` re-allocates campaign weight to mid-funnel; `funnel-analysis` re-diagnoses at week 4.