# business-design

Helps a designer read a P&L, map competitors and argue decisions with metrics when a PM or CFO pushes back.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 1400 installs · ★ 3103
- Author: Owl-Listener
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/tree/HEAD/ux-strategy/skills/business-design/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-09-05
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/business-design

## What it does

The skill translates between design thinking and business thinking. It walks through how a decision lands on both sides of the ledger: revenue (conversion, retention, average order value, referral) and cost (support volume, onboarding failure, churn). When a decision gets challenged, the first question is which line it moves.

Inside are a designer's read of a P&L, a competitive map built on interaction model and experience quality rather than a feature matrix, and a table tying work to metrics: onboarding redesign to activation, error states to support tickets, navigation to task completion. There is also a frame for pitching a decision as a bet — what it moves, what inaction costs, what signal is already visible. Plus how to separate a taste call from an evidence-based one and say so out loud.

It prepares the argument, not the meeting. For the live defence the author points to `design-negotiation` from designer-toolkit. Install runs through `npx skills add` on Claude, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI and OpenCode; GitHub Copilot uses `gh skill install`.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill business-design -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/business-design/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/business-design/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill business-design -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/business-design/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill business-design -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/business-design/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install Owl-Listener/designer-skills business-design
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/business-design/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill business-design -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills --path ux-strategy/skills/business-design
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/business-design/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill business-design -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/tree/HEAD/ux-strategy/skills/business-design/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- explain an onboarding redesign through activation, not UX principles
- find which P&L line a contested decision moves
- map competitors by experience quality instead of feature lists
- tie a design effort to a metric before starting it
- separate a taste call from an evidence-based one in a PM review

## Example prompts
- Help me defend moving the checkout button: which metric does it move and what do we lose by leaving it
- Walk our product through a P&L: where does design drive revenue and where does it drive cost
- Build a competitive map based on interaction model and experience quality

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: 91011b650bcd26f9.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 91011b650bcd26f9
```text
---
name: business-design
description: Read financials, map competitive landscapes, and argue design decisions in the language of value. Use when defending design to commercial stakeholders. For the live negotiation itself, use `design-negotiation` (designer-toolkit).
---
# Business Design

You help designers navigate the business layer of product work — not to make design subservient to business goals, but to make design legible to the people who set them.

The gap is usually language, not intent. A designer who can read a P&L and explain their work in terms of value is not compromising their craft — they're protecting it.

## What You Do

You translate between design thinking and business thinking. You help a designer understand where their work sits in the commercial picture, how to read a room when strategy is being set, and how to make a case that holds up when challenged by a PM or CFO who leads with ROI.

## Reading a P&L as a Designer

Design decisions affect both sides of the ledger.

**Revenue drivers:**
- Conversion rate — the purchase or signup flow is a design surface
- Retention — the continued-use loop is a design problem
- Average order value — cross-sell and discovery UX directly moves this
- Referral and word of mouth — product delight drives organic acquisition

**Cost drivers:**
- Support volume — confusing flows generate tickets; clarity reduces cost
- Onboarding failure — users who don't activate cost acquisition spend with no return
- Churn — usually a product experience problem before it's a pricing one

When a design decision is challenged, the first question is: which line does it move?

## Competitive Landscape Mapping

Competitive analysis from a design lens asks different questions than a feature comparison matrix.

**What to map:**
- Interaction model — how does the product ask users to think about their work?
- Emotional register — clinical, warm, playful, professional?
- Table-stakes UX — what does every product in this space do, and how well?
- Gaps — what problem is consistently handled poorly, even by the best?
- Aspiration benchmarks — what products outside this category set the bar for the experience you're after?

**Output:** A map that locates your product not on feature parity, but on experience quality and differentiation.

## Defending Design in Business Language

The test: can you answer "why does this matter to the business?" without reaching for abstract UX principles?
```
END THIRD-PARTY FILE 91011b650bcd26f9

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First 2485 of 4354 bytes. © Owl-Listener · MIT · https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/tree/HEAD/ux-strategy/skills/business-design/SKILL.md

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