organizational-design
Help users design effective organizational structures. Use when someone is thinking about team structure, deciding between functional vs. divisional models, planning a reorg, or figuring out how to structure product teams.
What this skill does
# Organizational Design Help the user design effective organizational structures using frameworks from 2 product leaders. ## How to Help When the user asks for help with organizational design: 1. **Understand their context** - Ask about their current structure, company stage, what problem they're trying to solve, and what trade-offs they're willing to make 2. **Identify the core trade-off** - Help them see the spectrum between centralized (Apple-style) and decentralized (Amazon-style) models 3. **Evaluate options** - Walk through the implications of different structures for speed, coherence, and cross-team dependencies 4. **Guide implementation** - Help them think through how to transition to a new structure ## Core Principles ### The fundamental trade-off: speed vs. coherence Gustav Soderström: "On one spectrum, you have Amazon - minimize dependencies so you can run in parallel. On the other, you have Apple - centrally organized close to a single individual." Amazon optimizes for speed through autonomous teams with minimal dependencies. Apple optimizes for coherent user experience through central coordination. Neither is universally better - choose based on what matters most for your product. ### Functional models can restore startup speed Brian Chesky: "We went to a functional model. We went back to a startup." Airbnb eliminated divisional structures and management layers that separated leaders from the work. Functional models concentrate expertise and reduce the "telephone game" between executives and ICs. ### Eliminate managers who don't know the work Brian Chesky's restructuring removed "people managers" who couldn't do the work themselves. Leaders should have enough context to make decisions, not just manage reports. If a manager can't review the actual output, the structure is broken. ### Structure follows strategy The right org structure depends on what you're optimizing for. If you need rapid, parallel execution on independent initiatives: decentralize. If you need a tightly integrated product experience: centralize. ## Questions to Help Users - "What problem are you trying to solve with this restructuring?" - "Do you optimize more for speed of independent teams, or coherence across the product?" - "How many layers are between your executives and the people doing the work?" - "Can your managers actually review and understand the output of their teams?" - "What are the biggest coordination failures you're experiencing today?" ## Common Mistakes to Flag - **Reorging without a clear problem** - Structure changes are disruptive. Be clear about what specific problem you're solving - **Copying another company's structure** - Amazon's structure works for Amazon's strategy. Make sure you're choosing based on your needs, not prestige - **Too many management layers** - Every layer adds latency and information loss. Minimize distance between decision-makers and work - **Managers who can't do the work** - If leaders don't understand the output, they can't make good decisions about it ## Deep Dive For all 2 insights from 2 guests, see `references/guest-insights.md` ## Related Skills - Building Team Culture - Organizational Transformation - Managing Up - Delegating Work
Related in Design
contribute
IncludedLocal-only OSS contribution command center. Auto-refreshes the user's in-flight PR and issue state on invoke so conversations start with full context — no need to brief Claude on what's in flight. Helps the user find issues to contribute to on GitHub, builds per-repo dossiers of what each upstream expects (CLA, DCO, branch convention, AI policy, draft-first, review bots, issue templates), runs deterministic gates before any external action so AI-assisted contributions don't reach maintainers as slop. State is markdown-only: candidate files at ~/.contribute-system/candidates/, repo dossiers at ~/.contribute-system/research/, append-only event log at ~/.contribute-system/log.jsonl. No database, no cloud calls. Use when the user asks about their PRs / issues / contributions, wants to find new work to take on, claim an issue, build/refresh a repo's dossier, or draft a Design Issue or PR. Trigger with "/contribute", "what's my PR status", "find a contribution", "claim issue X", "draft a Design Issue for Y", "refresh dossier for Z".
architectural-analysis
IncludedUser-triggered deep architectural analysis of a codebase or scoped subtree across eight modes — information architecture, data flow, integration points, UI surfaces, interaction patterns, data model, control flow, and failure modes. This skill should be used when the user asks to "diagram this codebase," "map the architecture," "show the data flow," "give me an ERD," "trace control flow," "find the integration points," "verify the layout pattern," "audit the UX architecture," or any similar request whose primary deliverable is mermaid diagrams plus cited reports under docs/architecture/. Dispatches haiku/sonnet sub-agents in parallel for per-mode exploration, then verifies every citation mechanically before any node lands in a diagram. Not for one-off prose explanations of code (use code-explanation) or for high-level system design from scratch (use system-design).
mcp
IncludedModel Context Protocol (MCP) server development and tool management. Languages: Python, TypeScript. Capabilities: build MCP servers, integrate external APIs, discover/execute MCP tools, manage multi-server configs, design agent-centric tools. Actions: create, build, integrate, discover, execute, configure MCP servers/tools. Keywords: MCP, Model Context Protocol, MCP server, MCP tool, stdio transport, SSE transport, tool discovery, resource provider, prompt template, external API integration, Gemini CLI MCP, Claude MCP, agent tools, tool execution, server config. Use when: building MCP servers, integrating external APIs as MCP tools, discovering available MCP tools, executing MCP capabilities, configuring multi-server setups, designing tools for AI agents.
react-native-skia
IncludedDesign, build, debug, and optimise high-polish animated graphics in React Native or Expo using @shopify/react-native-skia, Reanimated, and Gesture Handler. Use when the user wants canvas-driven UI, shaders, paths, rich text, image filters, sprite fields, Skottie, video frames, snapshots, web CanvasKit setup, or performance tuning for custom motion-heavy elements such as loaders, hero art, cards, charts, progress indicators, particle systems, or gesture-driven surfaces. Also use when the user asks for fluid, glow, glass, blob, parallax, 60fps/120fps, or GPU-friendly animated effects in React Native, even if they do not explicitly say "Skia". Do not use for ordinary form/layout work with standard views.
plaid
IncludedProduct Led AI Development — guides founders from idea to launched product. Six capabilities: Idea (discover a product idea), Validate (pressure-test the idea against fatal flaws, problem reality, competition, and 2-week MVP feasibility), Plan (vision intake + document generation), Design (translate image references into a design.md spec), Launch (go-to-market strategy), and Build (roadmap execution). Use when someone says "PLAID", "plaid idea", "help me find an idea", "product idea", "idea from my business", "idea from my expertise", "plaid validate", "validate my idea", "pressure-test", "is this idea good", "find fatal flaws", "validate the problem", "plan a product", "define my vision", "generate a PRD", "product strategy", "plaid design", "design from image", "translate image to design", "create design.md", "extract design tokens", "plaid launch", "go-to-market", "launch plan", "GTM strategy", "launch playbook", "plaid build", "build the app", "start building", or "execute the roadmap".
nextjs-framer-motion-animations
IncludedAdds production-safe Motion for React or Framer Motion animations to Next.js apps, including reveal, hover and tap micro-interactions, whileInView, stagger, AnimatePresence, layout and layoutId transitions, reorder, scroll-linked UI, and lightweight route-content transitions. Use when the user asks to add, refactor, or debug Motion or Framer Motion in App Router or Pages Router codebases, especially around server/client boundaries, reduced motion, LazyMotion, bundle size, hydration, or route transitions. Avoid for GSAP-style timelines, WebGL or 3D scenes, heavy scroll storytelling, or CSS-only effects unless Motion is explicitly requested.