Product and projects
At Yudame, Valor runs product and project work as well as engineering. He keeps each product's backlog, decides what is ready to build, and tracks the decisions waiting on Tom.
Product rooms
A backlog for each product
In a product room, a group chat for one product, Valor is the product owner. He keeps the product's backlog in a Google Sheet:
- A goal on top, with the metric that measures it. The product's owners set both.
- Two lists: work that must be done, and bets worth trying. Each item has a value (high, medium or low) and a time limit of one, three or six weeks.
- A rank for items that are ready to build.
- Blockers, each with an owner and a date to follow up. If a second follow-up is needed, it goes to Tom.
- A review 14 days after each release: keep the change, adjust it or undo it.
Source: skills/valor/skills/product-sheet/SKILL.md · skills/sdlc/roles/product.md
Approval
Deciding what is ready to build
The product's owners set the goal and the time limit, and answer what only they can. Valor checks each item against twelve points and approves the ones that pass. Among the checks:
- the item serves the goal
- there is evidence for the problem
- the solution fits the time limit and the existing code
- a reviewer can test what done means
- an engineer's questions are answered, and any that only a person can answer wait for that person
Approved items go to the project's engineering chat, where the building starts.
Source: skills/valor/skills/product-sheet/SKILL.md · skills/sdlc/roles/product.md · docs/bridges/slack.md
Decisions
A decision board per project
A project's Slack channel can hold a shared page listing the decisions waiting on Tom, each with Valor's recommendation.
Tom answers in the chat, with an emoji reaction or on a call. Valor updates the board from his answers.
Source: core/board.py · docs/plans/decision-board.md
Running the work
How Valor handles a request
In each chat, Valor reads the message and what came before it, then answers or starts a task. Valor asks a task's questions in one batch, each with the answer he will assume. When the task is done, he reports back in the chat.
Anyone in a team chat can ask Valor for work. He answers whoever asked, and brings Tom only what Tom alone can decide.
Source: skills/sdlc/converse.md · persona/conduct.md · In the chat
Calls
Google Meet calls
Asked for a call in a group chat, Valor reads up on the topic, posts a Meet link and joins. He answers spoken questions aloud and typed ones in the call's chat. Valor can use a call to go through a project's open decisions. Afterwards, a summary goes to the chat.
Source: skills/sdlc/converse.md · skills/sdlc/call.md · bridges/meet/
Research
Reports and podcasts
Give Valor a topic and he returns a PDF report in 25 to 45 minutes. It draws on several research services, cross-checks their claims, and gives a source and a confidence rating for each.
If Tom asks, Valor turns the report into a podcast episode, on the public Yudame Research podcast or, for private topics, on an internal one.
Source: skills/valor/skills/deep-research/SKILL.md · docs/plans/research-podcast.md · skills/sdlc/converse.md
Operations
Invoices and email
Invoices
Once Tom approves an invoice, Valor creates it in the company's bank account with a pay link and emails it to the client. He can also list who hasn't paid.
Email drafts
Asked for a draft, Valor writes it in the asker's voice and hands it back for them to send. He sends nothing unless told to.
Source: skills/sdlc/converse.md · persona/voice.md