Method — Retail Diagnostic

A 7-section diagnostic frame. Financial baseline → two theme drill-downs → priorities → roadmap → case for action. The output is a pptx deck a board can read standalone.

GrowDirect ships this as the consulting:retail-diagnostic skill. Plug in a client evidence pack; get a structured diagnostic deck with quantified prize-sizing, per-theme drill patterns, a prioritised roadmap, and a phased case for action.

The seven sections

Every slide carries a numbered navigator ribbon in the top-right corner showing 1–7. That ribbon is the skill's sine qua non — every slide must earn a number.

1. Executive Summary — the entire deck rendered in miniature. One-page summary of each of the other six sections, plus a prize-sizing roll-up and the phased roadmap. Read-standalone.
2. Background, Scope & Approach — workshop themes, scope (objectives and constraints), approach (phases, stores sampled, data extracts).
3. Financial Analysis & Industry Drivers — sales, margin, EBIT, stock turn, customer satisfaction index, industry peer comparison. Every number has a source cite. This section establishes the financial reality that makes the prize credible.
4. Theme 1 — Findings & Observations — per-root-cause drill pattern. Section opens with Overview + prize sizing; closes with Recommendations.
5. Theme 2 — Findings & Observations — same pattern as Theme 1, different domain.
6. Opportunity Priorities & Roadmap — 2×2 prioritisation matrix (Prize × Cost-of-Change). Recommended Initiatives tables. Implementation sequencing.
7. Prioritised Case for Action — Phase 1 (quick wins, Q1–Q4 year 1), Phase 2 (year 2), Phase 3 (year 3+). Milestones overlay. Action plan / next steps.

The repeating drill pattern (per theme)

Every theme uses the same four-element pattern. This is what gives the deck its rhythm and makes the methodology transferable.

Element 1 — Theme Overview (one slide)

• Left panel: High-Level Summary of Findings (6–8 bullets, quantified where possible).
• Right panel: Root-cause navigator — a mini-TOC for the drill slides that follow.
• Bottom ribbon: Three bold one-line callouts that state the shape of the opportunity.

Element 2 — The Prize (Potential Opportunity) (one slide)

• Center: Low Range / High Range quantification table. One row per driver, with a total sales / margin / cost opportunity.
• Right panel: Findings narrative explaining how the numbers were derived (data extract, period, method).
• Bottom ribbon: Three bold callouts anchoring the prize to business truths.

Element 3 — Per-Root-Cause Drill Slide (repeats N times, once per navigator entry)

• Title: "Causes of [Theme Problem] — [Root Cause]"
• Left column: Findings — 5–8 bullets, each anchored to a fact.
• Right column: Leading Practice — what best-in-class retailers do, 3–5 bullets. This column is what separates a diagnostic from a critique.
• Bottom ribbon: Three bold one-line conclusions.
• Left-edge ribbon: Root-cause navigator with current slide highlighted.

Element 4 — Recommendations block (closes the theme)

• Title: "[Theme] — Recommendations"
• Left column: Recommendations — numbered list, each bound to a root cause.
• Right column: Implementation Challenges broken into five disciplines: People / Process / Technology / Financial / 3rd Parties.
• Bottom ribbon: Three bold one-line anchors.

The Opportunity Priorities matrix (section 6)

Every recommended initiative is scored on five axes in a heat-map table:

• First three columns = prize. Potential material improvement → no material improvement (scaled rating).
• Last two columns = cost (inverted). Significant implementation cost / business change required → minimal or no cost.
• This table feeds the 2×2 prioritisation scatter: high-prize / low-cost gets Phase 1; high-prize / high-cost gets Phase 2 or 3; low-prize / high-cost gets dropped.

The roadmap (section 7)

Three phases, at least eight quarters visible (Q1-year1 through Q4-year2 as minimum). Each phase labelled with the question it answers:

• Phase 1 — "What are our quick wins?" Actions that can start in Q1 and deliver measurable benefit inside 12 months.
• Phase 2 — "What builds the system?" Actions that require platform work (new systems, tooling, integration).
• Phase 3 — "What's the end state?" Actions that require cultural or capability shift (new operating model, new governance, new skills).

Above the phase bars: Milestones overlay that aligns each phase with named programme deliverables.

What makes this diagnostic durable

1. Evidence first, recommendation second. Every slide in Sections 3–5 ends with three bold callouts that summarise what the data says, not what we think they should do.
2. The prize is quantified. No "significant opportunity" without a low/high range. No range without a method cite on the same slide.
3. The drill is symmetrical. Every root cause gets Findings + Leading Practice + three callouts, every time.
4. The roadmap is phased against milestones already on the client's calendar. The deck doesn't propose a new programme; it overlays the client's existing programme with opportunity sequencing.

How the skill applies the frame

The consulting:retail-diagnostic skill plugs into:

• Client evidence ingest. Financial extracts, POS data, systems inventory, workshop notes. Ingest creates a structured JSON evidence pack.
• Prize-sizing generator. Given the evidence and a theme, compute the low/high range and render the quantification table.
• Per-theme drill generator. Generate N root-cause drill slides using Findings / Leading Practice pairings.
• Roadmap assembler. Given Recommended Initiatives and known client milestones, assemble the three-phase roadmap.
• pptx output. Final deliverable is a .pptx matching the structural frame (numbered navigator ribbon; left-column / right-column body; three-callout footer; heat-map tables).

The methodology is the skill's system prompt. The evidence is the skill's input. The skill enforces the shape.

Related

• method/overview
• method/it-architecture-options
• method/roles/data-detective
• method/roles/digital-plumber