Quarterly re-scan of a prior PESTEL analysis. Use when checking which macro factors moved, which assumptions broke, and what's new — turning PESTEL from a workshop artifact into a radar.

PESTEL Delta Monitor Purpose Refresh a PESTEL analysis by diffing each factor — Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, Legal — against the prior run and reporting material movement only : search plan → factor by factor diff → broken assumptions → new entrants to the frame → next step options. Macro factors move slowly, which is exactly why teams stop looking; the value of a cadence is catching the two factors that moved, not re debating the twenty that didn't. Diffing also reveals which baseline entries were live assumptions versus furniture — broken assumptions are the real output. Input Works best with: the prior PESTEL analysis (pasted or attached) and the product/market scope it covered — this skill requires a baseline to diff against. Also useful: any events since the last run you already suspect matter — they get checked first. Input supplied inline with the invocation — text after the skill name, a pasted context dump, or an appended ARGUMENTS: line — counts as answers already given. Use it against the question budget; don't re ask. Arriving empty handed? This is the one investigation skill with a hard prerequisite: with no baseline, it recommends running [ pestel analysis ](../pestel analysis/SKILL.md) first and stops — there is nothing to diff. (That referral is the empty handed path: you leave knowing exactly what to do first.) Example invocation: PESTEL delta against the attached Q1 analysis — scope is our EU payments product; I suspect the new AI liability directive matters. Key Concepts Governing protocol: honors the [ autonomous investigation ](../autonomous investigation/SKILL.md) contract — question budget of 2, search plan gate, Fact/Inference/Assumption labels, Just Enough Mode, stable schema, 4 option Final Step. Disciplines: GEOINT/DEMOINT statistics plus FININT regulatory sources (see [ intelligence collection disciplines ](../intelligence collection disciplines/SKILL.md)); this is the annual/quarterly layer of the fusion cadence. Materiality for macro factors: regulation passed or credibly proposed , macro indicators crossing thresholds your baseline named, technology maturation with adoption evidence, social signals with data behind them. "No material movement" per factor is a valid and common result — a quiet quarter reported honestly keeps the radar trusted. Broken assumptions are the headline. A baseline entry now contradicted by evidence outranks ten new observations, because strategy was built on it. The diff exists to find these. Assumptions vs. furniture. Entries that never move and touch no decision were furniture — flag them for retirement at the next baseline refresh rather than re scanning them forever. Scope changes break diffs. New market, pivot, fundamentally different business context → redo the full PESTEL; never diff across a scope change. Do not invent list: regulations, statistics, dates, events. Real URLs and dates on everything — invented regulation is this domain's signature fabrication risk. Application 1. Check the prerequisite. No prior PESTEL → recommend [ pestel analysis ](../pestel analysis/SKILL.md) and stop. Scope changed since the baseline → recommend a fresh full analysis and stop. 2. Credit inline context , then ask only the unanswered questions (max 2): 1. Prior PESTEL to paste? 2. Any events since then you already suspect matter? 3. Read the prior analysis fully; diff factor by factor — the baseline document is the diff target, not your general knowledge of the macro environment. 4. Show the 3 bullet search plan — which factor categories get active searching this cycle (suspected events first), source types (government and regulatory sources, central bank and statistical data, credible news, industry bodies, standards organizations), fact/inference separation. Continue unless revised. 5. Emit the schema below exactly. Output schema (do not reorder) ~~~markdown PESTEL Delta Report 1. Run Header Scope (from prior analysis): Prior analysis date: This run date: 2. Factor by Factor Delta For each of P / E / S / T / E / L: [Factor]: [moved / no material movement] What moved: [1 2 bullets, labeled, cited — only if moved] Prior assumption affected: [which entry from the baseline] Reading: [Inference — implication for the product scope] Keep "no material movement" factors to a single line each. 3. Broken Assumptions [Baseline entries now contradicted by evidence — the run's most important section; cited] 4. New to the Frame [Factors absent from the baseline that now warrant a slot] 5. So What? 3 implications for strategy or roadmap 2 factors to watch closely next cycle 3 assumptions to validate Each bullet: label, confidence, URL where relevant. ~~~ A copy/paste fill in version of this schema, with quality checks, lives in [ template.md ](template.md). Final Step (offer exactly 4 options) 1. Update the baseline PESTEL with these deltas (new baseline) 2. Deep dive the most consequential moved factor 3. Trace the broken assumptions into roadmap or OKR impact 4. Set next cycle's watch priorities Accept 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 1 and 2 , Verbose Mode , or a custom path. Examples A factor that moved, traced to its assumption (fictional): Legal: moved What moved: the data residency provision cleared committee with an 18 month compliance window — Fact ([legislature record, URL, date]) Prior assumption affected: baseline entry L2 assumed "no residency mandate before 2028," which justified deferring the regional storage architecture Reading: the deferral logic is dead — Inference : the architecture decision moves from someday to next two roadmap quarters, and compliance becomes a sales asset in regulated verticals before it's a legal obligation. A quiet quarter reported honestly: five factors show "no material movement" at one line each; one Economic entry moved (a rate path shift crossing the baseline's stated budget gate threshold). The report is half a page. That brevity is the radar working — the reader spends two minutes and knows the strategy's macro floor held except where it didn't. See [ examples/sample.md ](examples/sample.md) for a complete worked delta run (fictional trades software scope) with two broken assumptions traced to their baseline entries and furniture flagged for retirement. [ examples/sample industrial.md ](examples/sample industrial.md) runs the industrial scope, where the hot factors swap — tariffs, energy, disclosure rules — and threshold crossings are distinguished from broken assumptions. Common Pitfalls Re debating the unmoved. Rewriting all six factors every quarter turns the radar back into the workshop it was meant to replace. One line per quiet factor — the discipline is the product. Materiality inflation. Promoting think pieces and proposals going nowhere into "movement." The bar is passed/credibly proposed regulation, crossed thresholds, adoption evidence — not discourse. Burying broken assumptions. Listing deltas without connecting them to the baseline entries they contradict. The "prior assumption affected" line is what makes a delta actionable. Diffing across a pivot. The business entered a new market and the monitor keeps diffing the old scope's factors. Scope change = new baseline, always. Invented specificity. A regulation name, effective date, or statistic that doesn't check out. In this domain a fabricated citation isn't just wrong, it's a compliance risk for the reader — the do not invent list is load bearing. References [ pestel analysis ](../pestel analysis/SKILL.md) (Component) — builds the baseline this monitor diffs against; the pair turns PESTEL into an operating radar [ autonomous investigation ](../autonomous investigation/SKILL.md) (Workflow) — the governing protocol [ intelligence collection disciplines ](../intelligence collection disciplines/SKILL.md) (Component) — GEOINT/DEMOINT statistical sources; regulatory registries [ derisk measurement advisor ](../derisk measurement advisor/SKILL.md) (Interactive) — consumes broken assumptions as risk inputs [ competitive intel watch ](../competitive intel watch/SKILL.md) (Workflow) — the competitor level sibling of this macro level watch Adapted from market intelligence/pestel delta monitor prompt.md in the https://github.com/deanpeters/product manager prompts repo.

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