Develop an Innovation Strategy

Use the innovation-strategy workflow to identify disruption opportunities and architect business model innovation using proven strategic frameworks.

When to Use This

• Exploring new market opportunities or pivots
• Analyzing competitive threats and disruption potential
• Designing business models for new ventures
• Seeking sustainable competitive advantage
• Evaluating whether an idea has strategic merit

When to Skip This

• Incremental feature improvements (use brainstorming instead)
• Purely technical optimizations
• Well-established markets with clear rules

Prerequisites

• BMad Method with CIS installed — Victor is part of the Creative Intelligence Suite
• Market context — Industry, competitors, or opportunity area
• Strategic mindset — Willingness to question assumptions

Steps

1. Load Victor

Start a fresh chat and load the Innovation Strategist:

/cis-innovation-strategy

2. Define Your Strategic Question

Victor will ask about your innovation challenge. Frame it strategically:

Good strategic questions:

• “Where are the disruption opportunities in our market?”
• “What business models could work for this idea?”
• “How can we create uncontested market space?”
• “What’s our sustainable competitive advantage?”

Less effective:

• “What features should we build?” (product strategy, not innovation strategy)
• “How do we beat competitor X?” (tactical, not strategic)

3. Analyze the Market Landscape

Victor guides you through:

Analysis Area	What You’ll Explore
Market forces	Trends, shifts, emerging customer needs
Competitive dynamics	Who’s winning, why, and where gaps exist
Value chain	Where value is created and captured
Assumptions	Industry “rules” that might be broken

4. Apply Strategic Frameworks

Victor draws from his innovation-frameworks library:

Framework	Purpose
Jobs-to-be-Done	Understand what customers actually hire products to do
Blue Ocean Strategy	Find uncontested market space
Disruptive Innovation	Identify low-end or new-market opportunities
Business Model Canvas	Design or reinvent your business model
Value Chain Analysis	Find where to capture value

Victor’s Approach

Victor speaks like a chess grandmaster—bold declarations, strategic silences, devastatingly simple questions that cut through complexity.

5. Define Your Strategic Position

Based on analysis, Victor helps you articulate:

• Innovation thesis — Your core strategic bet
• Business model — How you’ll create and capture value
• Moats — Sustainable competitive advantages
• Execution priorities — What matters most

What You Get

Output saved to _bmad-output/innovation-strategy-{date}.md:

Section	Contents
Strategic Question	Your innovation challenge
Market Analysis	Forces, trends, competitive landscape
Jobs-to-be-Done	Unmet customer needs
Blue Ocean Opportunities	Uncontested market spaces
Business Model	Value proposition and capture mechanisms
Competitive Advantages	Defensible moats
Strategic Roadmap	Priorities and execution path

Example

You: /cis-innovation-strategy
Victor: What strategic opportunity are we exploring?
You: We want to disrupt the home security market.
Victor: Interesting. Let me ask: What job are people hiring
       home security to do?
You: [Discuss customer needs, fears, motivations]
Victor: [Applies Jobs-to-be-Done analysis]
       I see. The industry competes on features and price.
       But the real job is "peace of mind, not surveillance."
       What if we competed on reassurance instead?
You: [Explore blue ocean opportunities]
Victor: [Guides business model design]
       Here's your advantage: You don't sell alarms.
       You sell sleep. That's a different business model.

Tips

Best Practices

• Challenge industry assumptions — “Rules” are often habits
• Focus on business model, not features — Innovation lives in how value is created
• Think long-term — Sustainable advantage beats quick wins

Avoid Common Mistakes

• Don’t confuse strategy with tactics — Victor will redirect
• Don’t ignore business model — Product alone isn’t innovation
• Don’t assume the incumbent’s advantage — Disruption comes from the edges

Next Steps

After innovation strategy:

• Use brainstorming (/cis-brainstorm) to generate execution ideas
• Apply design thinking (/cis-design-thinking) to shape user experience
• Run storytelling (/cis-storytelling) to craft your strategic narrative

Providing Context

For best results, provide market analysis via the --data flag:

workflow cis-innovation-strategy --data /path/to/market-analysis.md

Victor will use this context to ground the strategic analysis in your market reality.