Triage a competitive or market question into the right intelligence disciplines, cadence, and executing skill. Use when you know something needs researching but not which channel to run.

Intel Discipline Advisor Purpose Triage a competitive or market question into the right intelligence response: which of the eight collection disciplines to run, on what cadence, feeding which artifact, executed by which skill. The [ intelligence collection disciplines ](../intelligence collection disciplines/SKILL.md) compendium holds everything about every channel; this advisor answers the question a busy PM actually has — "given what's on my desk, which two or three channels matter, and where do my limited hours go?" Running every discipline on every question is the failure mode; scoping to the decision is the craft. The advisor teaches the mapping as it routes, so by your third session you won't need it. That's the goal. Input Works best with: the decision or question on your desk, in your words — "I think [Competitor A] is building something," "my TAM slide got shredded," "sales keeps getting surprised." Also useful: any signal you've already noticed (a job posting, a pricing change, an earnings remark), your time budget, and whether you're limited to free sources. 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 advisor opens by asking what's on your desk, with enumerated situations to pick from. Example invocation: Intel discipline advisor: two of their senior engineers just followed our CTO on a preprint server, and their careers page doubled — what do I run? Key Concepts Facilitation protocol: use [ workshop facilitation ](../workshop facilitation/SKILL.md) as the default interaction protocol (entry modes, one question per turn, progress labels, numbered recommendations). This file defines the domain logic. The routing brain is the artifact mapping table in intelligence collection disciplines : every PM artifact has a known discipline mix and refresh cadence. The advisor's job is matching the user's situation to a row — and showing the match , because the mapping is the lesson. Signals already seen are a head start. If the user noticed a job posting surge, HUMINT has already flagged once — the recommendation starts from "1 discipline flagged" on the confidence stacking ladder and names which independent channels would corroborate (see [ autonomous investigation ](../autonomous investigation/SKILL.md)). Cadence must match evidence speed and human capacity. Pricing pages change monthly; statistics releases change annually. A watch the user can't sustain is worse than none — it produces false confidence that someone is watching. The honest off ramp. Some questions don't need an investigation: if the question is "why do customers churn," the answer is win/loss interviews and discovery, not a patent sweep. The advisor says so. Application This interactive skill asks 3 adaptive questions , then offers numbered, context aware recommendations . Question 1: What's on your desk? "What's the situation? Pick the closest, or describe your own: 1. Suspected competitor move — you think someone is building, entering, or repositioning 2. An artifact to build or refresh — TAM/SAM/SOM, battle card, positioning, ICP/personas, pricing analysis 3. A margin or market structure puzzle — margins eroding, category shifting, entry decision 4. Standing watch setup — you want ongoing coverage, not a one off answer" Question 2: Adaptive follow up If 1 (suspected move): "What tipped you off — a job posting, a pricing change, an exec's post, a patent, a customer remark? (Whatever you saw is one discipline already flagging; we'll pick the independent channels that could corroborate it.)" If 2 (artifact): "Which artifact, and does a prior version exist to diff against?" If 3 (structure puzzle): "Is the question about the whole industry's structure, or one company's position in it?" If 4 (watch): "Honestly, how much recurring time can you or your team commit — 30 minutes a week, a half day a month, a day a quarter?" Question 3: Constraints "Two quick constraints: free sources only or is paid tooling available, and any geographic focus? (Region changes which registries and statistics bureaus apply.)" Then: Recommend Synthesize and offer 3 5 numbered recommendations , each naming: discipline mix → cadence → executing skill → artifact fed , with one line on when it's the right choice. Always show why the disciplines were chosen (the mapping table logic), and include the off ramp when it's honest. Handle single selection, combinations ("1 and 3"), and custom directions per the facilitation protocol. Routing quick reference (from the artifact mapping table): Situation Discipline mix Executing skill Suspected move Corroborate the seen signal: TECHINT + HUMINT + SIGINT + FININT, fused [ intelligence collection disciplines ](../intelligence collection disciplines/SKILL.md) fusion template, then [ competitive intel watch ](../competitive intel watch/SKILL.md) Battle card SIGINT + OSINT + HUMINT [ battle card builder ](../battle card builder/SKILL.md), kept fresh by the watch TAM/SAM/SOM GEOINT/DEMOINT + FININT capture rates [ tam sam som calculator ](../tam sam som calculator/SKILL.md) Mode 3 Positioning / ICP OSINT + GEOINT/DEMOINT (+ VoC) [ voice of customer miner ](../voice of customer miner/SKILL.md) → [ positioning statement ](../positioning statement/SKILL.md) Industry structure FININT + OSINT [ porters five forces ](../porters five forces/SKILL.md) One company's position OSINT + FININT + HUMINT [ swot analysis ](../swot analysis/SKILL.md) or [ company intel ](../company intel/SKILL.md) Pricing question SIGINT + FININT [ pricing packaging tracker ](../pricing packaging tracker/SKILL.md) Macro exposure GEOINT/DEMOINT + regulatory FININT [ pestel delta monitor ](../pestel delta monitor/SKILL.md) Standing watch SIGINT weekly, OSINT+HUMINT monthly, FININT+TECHINT quarterly — scaled to stated capacity [ competitive intel watch ](../competitive intel watch/SKILL.md) The full picture All of the above, sequenced [ competitive analysis process ](../competitive analysis process/SKILL.md) Close by offering the one page triage card ([ template.md ](template.md)) filled in from the session — the route, its "because," and a review date, as a handoff artifact. Examples Sample flow (fictional): Q1 → User: "1 — I think [Competitor A] is building a data platform play." Q2 → User: "Their careers page doubled, mostly data engineers." Q3 → User: "Free sources, US only." "Your hiring observation means HUMINT has already flagged once — one discipline is an anecdote, so the job is corroboration from independent channels. Recommendations: 1. TECHINT sweep this week (patents.google.com + their GitHub org + arXiv affiliations, free) — a paper or patent cluster in the same specialty as the hiring surge is the strongest fusion pair available. Pick this first: highest corroboration value per hour. 2. SIGINT check, 30 minutes (crt.sh for new subdomains, Wayback diff on their product pages) — catches launch staging if this is further along than hiring suggests. 3. FININT pass at their next earnings call — listen for capex dodges and segment language shifts; free via their IR page. Slower, but turns hypothesis into briefable intelligence. 4. Set the watch instead — if this can't get hours this quarter, wire [Competitor A] into competitive intel watch monthly and let the cadence catch it. Reply 1, 2, 3, 4, a combination like '1 and 2', or tell me more. (Two agreeing disciplines = working hypothesis; three = brief your leadership.)" The off ramp in action: user picks "artifact: ICP refresh," but Q2 reveals the real question is "why did our last three enterprise deals stall?" The honest recommendation leads with win/loss interviews (HUMINT's ground truth layer) and [ discovery interview prep ](../discovery interview prep/SKILL.md) — "no public web sweep answers a question your own churned prospects can answer better." See [ examples/conversation flow.md ](examples/conversation flow.md) for a full end to end session: inline input crediting two of the three questions, a capacity answer that gets believed, a combination selection, and a "tell me more" that earns a teaching answer. [ examples/conversation flow industrial.md ](examples/conversation flow industrial.md) shows the routing shift for a physical world signal — permits and customs data instead of site diffs. Common Pitfalls Prescribing the full eight. Recommending every discipline is refusing to triage. Two or three channels matched to the decision beats coverage theater — the mapping table exists so you can skip. Ignoring the seen signal. The user's tip off is a free head start on the stacking ladder. Recommending channels that re detect the same signal type adds no corroboration; independence is what stacks. Cadence fantasy. Designing a weekly watch for a team with a quarterly attention span. Ask the capacity question and believe the answer. Routing without teaching. Handing over a recommendation without the "because" strips the lesson. Every recommendation shows its mapping table logic — the user should leave better at triage, not just triaged. No off ramp. Forcing every question into an investigation. Discovery, win/loss, and support tickets answer some questions better than any public web sweep; say so when it's true. References [ intelligence collection disciplines ](../intelligence collection disciplines/SKILL.md) (Component) — the compendium this advisor routes into; the pedagogic pair [ workshop facilitation ](../workshop facilitation/SKILL.md) (Interactive) — facilitation protocol [ autonomous investigation ](../autonomous investigation/SKILL.md) (Workflow) — confidence stacking and evidence labels the recommendations lean on Executing skills: [ competitive intel watch ](../competitive intel watch/SKILL.md), [ battle card builder ](../battle card builder/SKILL.md), [ tam sam som calculator ](../tam sam som calculator/SKILL.md), [ porters five forces ](../porters five forces/SKILL.md), [ swot analysis ](../swot analysis/SKILL.md), [ voice of customer miner ](../voice of customer miner/SKILL.md), [ pricing packaging tracker ](../pricing packaging tracker/SKILL.md), [ pestel delta monitor ](../pestel delta monitor/SKILL.md), [ competitive analysis process ](../competitive analysis process/SKILL.md) [ discovery interview prep ](../discovery interview prep/SKILL.md) (Interactive) — the off ramp when the question belongs to discovery The Interactive companion to [ intelligence collection disciplines ](../intelligence collection disciplines/SKILL.md).

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