Organisation Research

You are conducting organisation research for a consulting engagement. Your goal is to gather as much publicly available information as possible about a real organisation, structured for use by any downstream skillset.

Before you start

Check clients/ for existing workspaces. If one exists for this organisation, you are refreshing research, not starting over. Read the existing resources/index.md to understand what has already been gathered and when.

If no workspace exists, ask the user for:

1. •Organisation name (and URL if available)
2. •Workspace path (default: ./clients/{org-slug}/)

Create the workspace directory structure:

clients/{org-slug}/
├── resources/
├── projects/
│   └── index.md
└── engagement.md

See workspace-layout.md for the full workspace convention.

Initialise projects/index.md with an empty project registry:

# Projects — {Organisation Name}

No projects yet. Use the `engage` skill to plan an engagement.

Initialise engagement.md:

# Engagement History — {Organisation Name}

## {Date} — Client onboarded

**Action**: Organisation research initiated.

Research tasks

Run these research sub-tasks. Where possible, run them in parallel to maximise throughput. Each sub-task produces a separate file in resources/.

1. Corporate Overview (corporate-overview.md)

Search for and gather:

• •Mission, vision, and stated strategy
• •Organisational structure (divisions, business units)
• •Size (employees, revenue, market cap if public)
• •History and major milestones
• •Recent news (last 12 months)

Sources: corporate website, Wikipedia, annual reports, press releases.

2. Products and Services (products-services.md)

Search for and gather:

• •Complete product/service portfolio
• •Customer segments for each
• •Pricing models (if publicly available)
• •Recent launches or discontinuations
• •How the organisation describes its own value proposition

Sources: product pages, marketing material, press releases, review sites.

3. Technology Landscape (technology-landscape.md)

Search for and gather:

• •Known technology stack (from job postings, tech blogs, conference talks)
• •Key platforms and infrastructure
• •Build vs buy decisions that are publicly visible
• •Technology partnerships
• •Patents or research publications

Sources: job postings, engineering blogs, conference presentations, patent databases, GitHub organisation.

4. Market Position (market-position.md)

Search for and gather:

• •Direct competitors and market share (if available)
• •Industry classification and market size
• •Competitive advantages and differentiators
• •Industry trends affecting this organisation
• •Analyst coverage or industry reports

Sources: industry reports, news coverage, analyst notes, financial filings.

5. Regulatory Environment (regulatory-environment.md)

Search for and gather:

• •Applicable regulations and standards
• •Regulatory bodies with oversight
• •Compliance requirements
• •Recent regulatory changes affecting the organisation
• •Industry certifications held or required

Sources: government websites, regulatory body publications, industry standards bodies, compliance documentation.

6. Partnerships and Suppliers (partnerships-suppliers.md)

Search for and gather:

• •Key partnerships and alliances
• •Major suppliers and vendors
• •Supply chain structure (if visible)
• •Outsourcing arrangements
• •Joint ventures or consortia

Sources: press releases, annual reports, partner directories, SEC filings.

Sub-report format

Each sub-report must follow the template in research-template.md. Key requirements:

• •Every factual claim must have a citation with URL
• •Include a confidence level (High / Medium / Low) with reasoning
• •Include a "Strategic Relevance" section connecting findings to potential strategic insights
• •Use direct quotes where possible

Synthesis

After all sub-reports are complete, write resources/index.md:

1. •Read all sub-reports
2. •Identify themes that cut across multiple topics
3. •Note contradictions or gaps in the research
4. •Highlight the most important findings for strategic work:
   • •Who the organisation's users likely are
   • •What the organisation's core capabilities appear to be
   • •Where technology or market evolution is happening
   • •What constraints (regulatory, contractual, technical) exist
5. •Cross-reference sub-reports but do not duplicate their detail
6. •Include a manifest listing each sub-report, its date, and confidence

Index format

# Research — {Organisation Name}

## Manifest

| Topic | File | Date | Confidence |
|-------|------|------|------------|
| Corporate Overview | `corporate-overview.md` | {date} | {level} |
| Products and Services | `products-services.md` | {date} | {level} |
| ... | ... | ... | ... |

## Synthesis

{1-3 page synthesis of findings across all topics}

The index is the primary input for downstream skills. It is the gate artifact for this skill.

Refreshing research

When research already exists:

1. •Read resources/index.md for existing state
2. •Check dates in the manifest. Re-run sub-tasks for stale topics
3. •Update the sub-reports and rewrite the synthesis
4. •Note in engagement.md that research was refreshed

Completion

When all artifacts are written, summarise what you found and tell the user to use the engage skill to plan their consulting engagement, or to invoke a specific skillset skill directly if they already know what they want.