working-backwards

working-backwards is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from hardiktiwari/PM-operating-OS. It costs 33 tokens per session (580 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A product-planning method that starts with the customer and desired future outcome, then works backward to define the product.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to define products or major initiatives, write a customer-focused press release and FAQ, and create plans based on the intended future state.
Why use it?
It helps clarify who the product serves, which problem it solves, and what success should feel and look like before implementation begins.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Written for no agent in particular: nothing here depends on one.

Good fit Use it to define products or major initiatives, write a customer-focused press release and FAQ, and create plans based on the intended future state.

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Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/hardiktiwari/pm-operating-os/working-backwards
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add hardiktiwari/PM-operating-OS --skill working-backwards
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/hardiktiwari/PM-operating-OS

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for working-backwards

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/hardiktiwari/pm-operating-os/working-backwards/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/hardiktiwari/pm-operating-os/working-backwards)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/hardiktiwari/pm-operating-os/working-backwards"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/hardiktiwari/pm-operating-os/working-backwards/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for working-backwards

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/hardiktiwari/pm-operating-os/working-backwards"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/hardiktiwari/pm-operating-os/working-backwards.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 33 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 580 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00033 $0.00580
Opus 5 $0.00016 $0.00290
Sonnet 5 $0.00007 $0.00116
Haiku 4.5 $0.00003 $0.00058

Measured 9d ago against content hash bac160cfdb35, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-09, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

working-backwards scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 9d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

skills/working-backwards/SKILL.md · 86 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 86 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Working Backwards

Help PMs apply the working backwards methodology: start from the customer and desired outcome, then work backward to define the product. Produces PR/FAQ, press release, and customer-first plans.

When to Use

  • Defining a new product or major initiative
  • Writing a PR/FAQ (Press Release / Frequently Asked Questions)
  • Planning from a future state
  • Clarifying value proposition before building
  • When asked "help me think backwards" or "write a press release"

Process / Template

1. Define the Future State

  • Customer — who is this for?
  • Problem — what pain are we solving?
  • Ideal outcome — what does success look like for the customer?
  • Emotional payoff — how does the customer feel when it works?

2. Write the Press Release

Imagine the product is launched. Write a 1-page press release as if it's real:

Headline

  • Bold, benefit-focused (not feature-focused)

Subhead

  • One sentence: who it's for and why it matters

Problem

  • 1–2 paragraphs: the pain today

Solution

  • What we built and how it solves the problem

Quote

  • Customer or executive quote (aspirational)

Call to Action

  • How to get it, try it, learn more

Closing

  • Company boilerplate (optional)

3. Write the FAQ

Anticipate questions from internal and external audiences:

Customer FAQ

  • What is it? How do I get it? How much does it cost?
  • What if I have [edge case]?

Internal FAQ

  • Why are we building this? What's the business model?
  • What are we not building? What's out of scope?
  • How will we measure success? What could go wrong?

4. Derive Requirements

From the press release and FAQ:

  • What must be true for the press release to be accurate?
  • What are the must-have capabilities?
  • What can we defer to v2?

5. Validate

  • Does the press release pass the "so what?" test?
  • Would a customer care? Would they share it?
  • Is the problem real and meaningful?

Output

A Working Backwards Package including:

  • Press Release — 1 page, customer-facing, benefit-led
  • FAQ — customer and internal questions with answers
  • Implications — what we must build (high-level)

Read the full file on GitHub · 86 lines

Files

What ships with it

1 file beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 9d ago First seen · 86 lines · 33 tokens per session scan A bac160cfdb35

Subscribe to this mod's changes

working-backwards is a skill published in the GitHub repository hardiktiwari/PM-operating-OS (5 stars, last pushed 4mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 33 tokens to every session and 580 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

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