pol-probe

This skill helps product managers define and document a Proof of Life (PoL) probe: a lightweight, disposable validation artifact designed to surface harsh truths before expensive development. It solves the problem of prototype theater, where teams build impressive demos that impress stakeholders but teach nothing, by forcing the validation method to match the actual learning goal and by keeping the experiment cheap enough to delete.

The skill explains what a PoL probe is and contrasts it with an MVP, laying out five essential characteristics (lightweight, disposable, narrow scope, brutally honest, tiny and focused) and five prototype flavors (feasibility checks, task-focused tests, narrative prototypes, synthetic data simulations, and vibe-coded probes) matched to the hypothesis being tested. It provides a fill-in template covering the hypothesis, the specific risk being eliminated, the chosen prototype type, target users, harsh-truth success and failure criteria, tools and stack, a build/test/analyze timeline, an explicit disposal plan, an owner, and a status checklist. If invoked without a hypothesis, it asks for the hypothesis and the riskiest assumption inside it before designing the probe, and it treats any context supplied at invocation as answers already given.

Target users are product managers, founders, and product teams who want to de-risk an idea before committing engineering time. Typical use cases include testing a pricing hypothesis, validating a new workflow automation idea, or checking demand for a feature. It is a pure planning and documentation framework with no code execution or system access.