Planning the product

Lessons

1. 2.1

   Offer and audience

   45 min + 30 home

   A one-page project brief that says who the site is for and what it asks them to do.

   What the lesson covers

   Prerequisites

   Checkpoint lesson-1.6; the one-sentence project idea from 0.1.

   Covers

   • Picking the business case: own business, a client, or the course's sample business.
   • Target customer, their problem, the offer, the proof, the single main action (the conversion).
   • Using Claude as an interviewer and as a critic of the first draft.
   • What Claude cannot know: real customers, real prices, real results.

   Do along

   Have Claude interview the student and write docs/brief.md; revise it once.

   Done when

   The brief names one audience, one offer and one conversion action.

   Homework

   Give every open item in the brief an owner and a date, and record real customers' own words about their problem. Write a five-line brief by hand for a second business.

   Open lesson 2.1 →

2. 2.2

   Site structure and copy

   60 min + 40 home

   All the text for the site, written before any design.

   What the lesson covers

   Prerequisites

   docs/brief.md from 2.1.

   Covers

   • Pages needed for a lead-generation site and what each must achieve.
   • Landing page order: headline, problem, solution, proof, objections, call to action.
   • Writing with Claude: drafts, variants, cutting, keeping the student's own voice.
   • Honesty rules: no invented testimonials, numbers or guarantees.

   Do along

   Produce docs/content.md with the sitemap and the full text of every section.

   Done when

   Someone unfamiliar with the business can read the copy and say what is offered and what to do next.

   Homework

   Test the copy on two real readers and schedule every placeholder, sending the first review requests. Replace guessed FAQ questions with the ones customers really ask.

   Open lesson 2.2 →

3. 2.3

   Design direction

   50 min + 35 home

   A small design system Claude can follow consistently.

   What the lesson covers

   Prerequisites

   docs/content.md from 2.2; two or three websites the student likes as references.

   Covers

   • Choosing a visual direction from references rather than adjectives.
   • Design tokens: colours, type scale, spacing, corner radius.
   • Getting Claude to propose two or three distinct directions as live previews.
   • Logo and imagery: sources, licences, placeholders.

   Do along

   Choose one direction and save docs/design.md with tokens and usage rules.

   Done when

   The file defines colours, fonts and spacing, and a sample preview page uses only those values.

   Homework

   List every image the site needs with its source and licence, and describe the tokens of one reference site. Run a five-second test of the preview on one person.

   Open lesson 2.3 →

4. 2.4

   Technical plan

   50 min + 30 home

   The student understands what will be built, from which parts, in which order.

   What the lesson covers

   Prerequisites

   The three documents from 2.1–2.3.

   Covers

   • How a website works: browser, server, database, third-party services.
   • The reference stack and why each part was chosen; what each costs.
   • The data the system holds: lead, note, task, status.
   • Turning the course sections into the project's own roadmap.

   Do along

   Have Claude write docs/architecture.md with a diagram and data model, then update CLAUDE.md to point at all four documents.

   Done when

   The student can explain the diagram aloud, and a fresh Claude session summarises the project correctly.

   Homework

   Trace a second journey through the system (a status change in the CRM) and have Claude check it. Total the fixed running cost from the cost table and block calendar time for section 3.

   Open lesson 2.4 →