How to Perform SWOT, PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, and Ansoff Matrix Analysis with PM-Skills

The pm-skills repository provides declarative markdown skills that enable AI assistants to execute SWOT, PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, and Ansoff Matrix analyses through simple command invocations, with the market-scan command orchestrating all four frameworks into a single comprehensive strategic report.

The pm-skills open-source project ships a collection of framework-specific skills under the pm-product-strategy package that transform how product managers conduct strategic analysis. Each skill lives as a standalone markdown file defining prompts, triggers, and structured output templates that guide AI assistants through classic strategic frameworks. By leveraging these declarative skills, you can generate professional-grade strategic assessments without writing code or managing complex analytics pipelines.

Architecture of the Strategic Analysis Skills

The repository organizes each analysis framework as a skill—a self-contained markdown file containing a description, trigger keywords, and a prompt template. All skills reside in pm-product-strategy/skills/ and follow a consistent schema that allows the AI to understand when to apply each framework and how to structure its response.

Skill Structure

Every skill file contains four core components:

1. description – A human-readable summary of the analysis purpose.
2. triggers – Keywords that auto-load the skill when the conversation topic matches.
3. Prompt template – A "You are a..." instruction containing $ARGUMENTS placeholders for dynamic inputs.
4. Framework sections – Structured headings (e.g., "## SWOT Analysis Framework") that standardize the assistant's output.

Available Framework Skills

Framework	File Location	Purpose
SWOT Analysis	pm-product-strategy/skills/swot-analysis/SKILL.md	Evaluates Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats with actionable recommendations.
PESTLE Analysis	pm-product-strategy/skills/pestle-analysis/SKILL.md	Guides discovery of Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental factors.
Porter's Five Forces	pm-product-strategy/skills/porters-five-forces/SKILL.md	Assesses Competitive Rivalry, Threat of New Entrants, Supplier Power, Buyer Power, and Threat of Substitutes.
Ansoff Matrix	pm-product-strategy/skills/ansoff-matrix/SKILL.md	Generates growth strategies across Market Penetration, Market Development, Product Development, and Diversification quadrants.

How to Execute Individual Frameworks

You can invoke any single analysis by typing the skill trigger followed by your product context. The AI loads the corresponding markdown skill and returns a structured analysis based on the framework's specific methodology.

Running a SWOT Analysis

Use the /swot-analysis command to evaluate internal capabilities and external market position:

/swot-analysis
Product: MyChatApp – a cross-platform messaging service.

The assistant loads swot-analysis/SKILL.md and returns a structured grid containing Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, plus "S+O" leverage strategies and "W+T" mitigation actions.

Conducting PESTLE Analysis

Trigger the macro-environmental scan using the PESTLE skill:

/pestle-analysis
Product: SmartHome Hub – IoT central controller for home automation.
Focus: North American market entry, 2024-2026.

This processes the six PESTLE factors (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental) and provides trend implications for each category.

Assessing Porter's Five Forces

Evaluate competitive dynamics with the dedicated Porter skill:

/porters-five-forces
Product: Cloud-based CRM platform for SMBs.

The analysis produces intensity scores for each force (Competitive Rivalry, Threat of New Entrants, Supplier Power, Buyer Power, Threat of Substitutes) along with strategic implications.

Generating Ansoff Matrix Strategies

Determine growth pathways using the matrix skill:

/ansoff-matrix
Product: Enterprise analytics dashboard.
Current market: Fortune 500 companies.

This maps specific opportunities across the four quadrants: Market Penetration, Market Development, Product Development, and Diversification.

Orchestrating Complete Strategic Analysis

For comprehensive strategic planning, the market-scan command concatenates all four frameworks into a unified workflow defined in pm-product-strategy/commands/market-scan.md.

Using the Market-Scan Command

Execute all analyses simultaneously by invoking the orchestrator:

/pm-product-strategy:market-scan
Product: MyChatApp – a cross-platform messaging service.

This command passes your $ARGUMENTS to each skill sequentially, producing a single report containing:

• SWOT Analysis: Internal strengths/weaknesses and external opportunities/threats.
• PESTLE Analysis: Six-factor macro-environmental assessment.
• Porter's Five Forces: Competitive intensity evaluation.
• Ansoff Matrix: Growth strategy recommendations with specific tactics.

Customizing Analysis Scope

Add focus parameters to narrow the strategic lens:

/pm-product-strategy:market-scan
Product: B2B SaaS accounting platform.
Focus: Competitive landscape in European Union, compliance with GDPR 2.0.

The assistant tailors each framework's output to the specified geographic, regulatory, or competitive context.

Extending and Modifying Skills

Because the skills are pure markdown files, you can extend functionality without touching executable code. Edit the .md files directly to customize prompt templates or add framework variations.

To modify output structure, edit the Framework sections in the respective SKILL.md files. To adjust trigger keywords, update the triggers field in the skill's frontmatter. These declarative changes take effect immediately when the AI reloads the skill context.

Summary

• pm-skills provides markdown-based skills for SWOT, PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, and Ansoff Matrix analyses located in pm-product-strategy/skills/.
• Individual frameworks execute via slash commands (/swot-analysis, /pestle-analysis, etc.) that load specific skill templates.
• The market-scan command in pm-product-strategy/commands/market-scan.md orchestrates all four frameworks into a single comprehensive strategic report.
• Skills accept $ARGUMENTS placeholders for product names and strategic focus areas, enabling customized analysis outputs.
• All skills follow a consistent schema with descriptions, triggers, prompt templates, and structured framework sections for standardized AI responses.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between running individual skills versus the market-scan command?

Individual skills like /swot-analysis provide deep, focused analysis on one specific framework, ideal when you need detailed examination of a particular strategic dimension. The market-scan command concatenates all four skills—SWOT, PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, and Ansoff Matrix—into a single workflow, passing the same arguments to each skill and returning a unified strategic overview suitable for comprehensive planning sessions.

Can I modify the analysis prompts without changing the repository code?

Yes. Because the skills are declarative markdown files, you can edit the prompt templates in files like swot-analysis/SKILL.md or ansoff-matrix/SKILL.md directly. Changes to the description, triggers, or framework sections take effect immediately when the AI assistant reloads the skill context, requiring no compiled code modifications or deployment processes.

How does the skill system handle custom product contexts and focus areas?

Each skill template includes $ARGUMENTS placeholders that accept your specific product name and optional focus parameters. When you invoke /swot-analysis Product: MyChatApp Focus: North American market, the assistant injects these values into the skill's prompt template, tailoring the analysis to your specific competitive landscape, geographic constraints, or temporal scope (e.g., "2024-2026").

Where are the skill files located in the repository?

The four strategic framework skills reside in the pm-product-strategy/skills/ directory with the following paths: swot-analysis/SKILL.md, pestle-analysis/SKILL.md, porters-five-forces/SKILL.md, and ansoff-matrix/SKILL.md. The orchestrating market-scan command is located at pm-product-strategy/commands/market-scan.md.

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