personal-operating-model

What this skill does

# Personal Operating Model: Interactive Self-Assessment

**Create a comprehensive operating model that describes how you create value, your strengths/weaknesses, failure patterns, and execution playbook.**

## Overview

This skill guides you through an interactive interview to create your Personal Operating Model (POM) - a living document that defines:
- How you create value (Core Loop)
- Your energy-positive strengths and unique edge
- Structural weaknesses and repeating pitfalls
- Decision system and operating constraints
- Energy rhythms and execution playbook

**Philosophy**: "Treat weaknesses as design constraints. The goal is not self-improvement theatre. The goal is a system that works."

**Speed**: 60-90 minutes
**Tone**: Analytical, honest, design-oriented
**Output**: Notion page update (config.notion.personalOperatingModel)

## Notion Integration

**Configuration:**
Notion page URLs are loaded in the following order (first found wins):
1. `.claude/config.md` or `CLAUDE.md` - Project-specific configuration (check working directory)
2. `.claude-plugin/config.json` - Plugin default configuration

**Reference Pages (configured in config files, fetch ONCE per session):**
- **Year Plan** (config.notion.yearPlan): Current year focus, OKRs, strategic themes
- **Golden Rules** (config.notion.goldenRules): Working principles
- **Founder Wisdom** (config.notion.founderWisdom): Patterns to emulate
- **Logbook** (config.notion.logbook, optional): Recent quarterly logs for pattern finding

**Output Page:**
- **Personal Operating Model** (config.notion.personalOperatingModel): POM output location

## Workflow

### Step 1: Context Gathering

**Load Configuration**:
```javascript
// Use Read tool to load Notion page URLs from config
// Try in order (first found wins):
// 1. .claude/config.md (check for notion.* URLs in markdown)
// 2. CLAUDE.md (check for notion.* URLs in markdown)
// 3. .claude-plugin/config.json (JSON format)
// Extract all config.notion.* URLs for use below
```

**Fetch context from Notion** (using URLs from config):
1. Year Plan (current year focus, OKRs, strategic themes)
2. Golden Rules (working principles)
3. Founder Wisdom (patterns to emulate)
4. Previous POM version (if exists)
5. Optional: Recent Quarterly Logs (for pattern finding)

**Analyze for patterns**:
- What strengths appear in Year Plan?
- What constraints show up in Golden Rules?
- What failure patterns appear in Quarterly Logs?
- What wisdom resonates from Founder Wisdom?

---

### Step 2: Interactive Interview (11 Sections)

**For each section**:
1. Present section purpose
2. Ask 3-5 deep interview questions (not fill-in-the-blank)
3. Listen to answers
4. Synthesize into template datapoints
5. Confirm synthesis before moving to next section

**Pacing**: This is 60-90 minutes. Don't rush. Depth > speed.

---

#### Section 1: Core Loop — How You Create Value

**Purpose**: Define your personal "value engine" as Input → Transformation → Output.

**Interview Questions** (ask using AskUserQuestion):

1. **Inputs**: "Think about the last 3 projects where you felt most in flow. What kinds of raw materials were you working with? (problems, data, people, situations, ideas)"

2. **Transformation**: "When you take that input, what do you actually DO to it? Not the deliverable, but the steps. Do you simplify? Frame? Systematize? Connect dots? Diagnose? What's your signature move?"

3. **Outputs**: "Which of your outputs have kept paying you back over time? What have you created that changed other people's decisions or created a durable asset?"

4. **Avoid**: "What kinds of inputs do people bring you that you CAN handle but really SHOULDN'T? What drains you even if you're good at it?"

**Synthesize into**:
- Inputs I'm best with: [list]
- Inputs I should avoid: [list]
- Transformation steps: [3-step sequence]
- Signature move: [one sentence]
- Outputs that compound: [list]
- Core Loop one-liner: "I transform [X] into [Y] by [Z], producing [W]."

---

#### Section 2: Strengths — Energy-Positive Capabilities

**Purpose**: Identify strengths that are BOTH high-performing AND energy-positive.

**Interview Questions**:

1. **Recognition**: "What do people consistently thank you for or come to you for help with? What compliments do you hear repeatedly?"

2. **Speed**: "What do you do significantly faster than your peers? Where do you see the answer while others are still figuring out the question?"

3. **Energy**: "What work feels easy to you but seems hard to others? What could you do all day without getting tired?"

4. **Context**: "Pick one of those strengths. In what contexts does it absolutely shine? When does it weaken or backfire?"

5. **Evidence**: "For your top strength, give me 2-3 concrete examples with outcomes. Not 'I'm good at X' but 'I did X, which resulted in Y'."

**Synthesize into** (repeat for top 3-5 strengths):
- Strength: [name]
- What I do better than most: [description]
- Why it works (mechanism): [explanation]
- Evidence: [2-3 examples with outcomes]
- Contexts where it shines: [list]
- Contexts where it weakens: [list]
- How to exploit it more: [strategy]

---

#### Section 3: Unique Strong Points — Your Asymmetric Edge

**Purpose**: Identify your rare combination that creates unfair advantage.

**Interview Questions**:

1. **Combination**: "What's your unusual combination of skills or experiences? Most people have A or B, but you have both A AND B. What is that for you?"

2. **Domain Bridging**: "What do you know deeply that few people around you know? What can you connect across domains that others can't?"

3. **Context Dominance**: "In which specific contexts do you absolutely dominate? What kind of problems are 'made for you'?"

4. **Timing**: "At what stage or timing is your advantage highest? (0→1, scaling, crisis, research, turnaround, mature optimization)"

**Synthesize into**:
- Rare combination: [A + B + C]
- Unfair advantage this creates: [description]
- Best contexts: [industry/team size/maturity/constraints]
- Best timing: [stage]
- Problems that fit me: [types]
- I win when: [conditions]
- I lose when: [conditions]

---

#### Section 4: Weaknesses — Structural Limitations

**Purpose**: Treat weaknesses as design constraints, not character flaws.

**Interview Questions**:

1. **Categorize**: "Think about your weaknesses. Which are skill gaps you could train? Which are energy drains you should avoid? Which are blind spots you must design around?"

2. **Consistent Underperformance**: "What consistently underperforms no matter how hard you try? Where do you reliably fall short?"

3. **Trigger Conditions**: "When do these weaknesses show up most? What situations activate them?"

4. **Mitigation**: "For your biggest weakness, what's the best mitigation strategy? (Outsource / automate / partner / checklist / timebox / avoid entirely)"

5. **Good Enough**: "What's your 'good enough' standard for this weakness? When is it OK to be mediocre here?"

**Synthesize into** (repeat for top 3-6 weaknesses):
- Weakness: [name]
- What consistently underperforms: [description]
- Trigger conditions: [when it shows up]
- Cost when ignored: [impact]
- Best mitigation strategy: [approach]
- Environmental fix: [change context, not self]
- "Good enough" standard: [minimum bar]

**Categorize**:
- Skill gaps: [trainable]
- Energy drains: [should avoid]
- Blind spots: [must design around]

---

#### Section 5: Pitfalls — Repeating Failure Patterns

**Purpose**: Identify failure patterns that require rules and interrupts, not motivation.

**Interview Questions**:

1. **Pattern Recognition**: "What mistake have you made 3+ times in your career? What's your 'here we go again' moment?"

2. **Over-Investment**: "Where do you consistently over-invest time, money, or energy for diminishing returns?"

3. **Avoidance**: "What do you consistently avoid that you KNOW matters? What important thing do you procrastinate on?"

4. **Early Warnings**: "For your biggest pitfall, what are the