Diamond Engagement Setup

Initialize a cogni-consulting engagement by framing the desired outcome and creating the project structure. This is the entry point for every Double Diamond engagement — getting the vision right here determines which methods, plugins, and deliverables the downstream phases will use.

Core Concept

A diamond engagement is a structured consulting process that moves from problem understanding (Diamond 1: Discover → Define) to solution design (Diamond 2: Develop → Deliver). Setup captures the engagement vision — what outcome the client needs — and scaffolds everything downstream skills depend on.

The vision class drives the entire engagement: it determines which methods are proposed in each phase, which plugins are dispatched, and which deliverables appear in the final package. A few minutes of clarity here prevents weeks of misdirected effort.

If an engagement already exists for this client/topic, redirect to the consulting-resume skill instead of creating a duplicate.

Workflow

1. Gather Engagement Context

Collect these fields:

• Engagement name: Descriptive name (e.g., "Acme Cloud Portfolio Expansion")
• Client: Company or organization name
• Vision class: The type of outcome needed. Present the options from $CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT/references/vision-class-summary.md.
• Desired outcome: One-sentence description of what success looks like
• Scope: Market, geography, product line, or segment boundaries
• Constraints: Timeline, budget, exclusions, or non-negotiables
• Industry: Primary industry sector (used for cogni-trends trend scouting)

If the user has provided some context already, extract what is available and ask only for missing fields.

Language detection: Check if a .workspace-config.json exists in the workspace root. If it contains a language field, use it. Otherwise ask the user (default: "en").

2. Review with User

Present the gathered context as a summary for confirmation:

Field	Value
Engagement	Acme Cloud Portfolio Expansion
Client	Acme Cloud Services
Vision class	strategic-options
Desired outcome	Identify 3-5 strategic investment options for cloud portfolio
Scope	DACH market, mid-market segment
Constraints	6-week timeline, no M&A options
Industry	Cloud Infrastructure
Proposed slug	acme-cloud-expansion
Language	en

The slug is derived from the engagement name in kebab-case — keep it short and recognizable.

Ask explicitly:

• Does this look right?
• Anything to add or correct?
• Happy with the engagement slug?

Iterate until the user confirms.

3. Create Engagement Structure

Run the init script:

bash $CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/engagement-init.sh "<workspace-dir>" "<engagement-slug>"

If the script returns "status": "exists", inform the user and suggest consulting-resume instead.

4. Write consulting-project.json

After the script creates directories, write consulting-project.json in the engagement root:

{
  "engagement": {
    "name": "<engagement name>",
    "slug": "<slug>",
    "client": "<client>",
    "vision_class": "<selected class>",
    "industry": "<industry>",
    "language": "<language>",
    "created": "<ISO date>",
    "updated": "<ISO date>"
  },
  "vision": {
    "desired_outcome": "<one-sentence outcome>",
    "scope": "<scope description>",
    "constraints": ["<constraint 1>", "<constraint 2>"],
    "deliverables": []
  },
  "phase_state": {
    "current": "discover",
    "discover": { "status": "pending", "started": null, "completed": null },
    "define": { "status": "pending", "started": null, "completed": null },
    "develop": { "status": "pending", "started": null, "completed": null },
    "deliver": { "status": "pending", "started": null, "completed": null }
  },
  "plugin_refs": {
    "research_project": null,
    "tips_project": null,
    "portfolio_project": null
  },
  "methods_used": [],
  "decisions": []
}

5. Map Vision to Deliverables

Read $CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT/references/deliverable-map.md and look up the deliverables for the selected vision class. Present the recommended deliverable package:

Based on the strategic-options vision class, your engagement will produce:

• Strategic Options Brief (PPTX/DOCX)
• Decision Board (Excalidraw)
• Executive Summary (PPTX/PDF)
• Action Roadmap (PPTX/XLSX)
• Claim Verification Log (MD)

Want to add or remove any deliverables?

Update vision.deliverables in consulting-project.json with confirmed list.

6. Preview Phase Plan

Read $CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT/references/vision-classes.md for the selected vision class and present the recommended method sequence:

Your Diamond engagement plan:

Discover (diverge) — Build understanding of the problem landscape

• Desk research via cogni-research
• Industry trend scan via cogni-trends
• Competitive baseline via cogni-portfolio

Define (converge) — Frame the core challenge

• Assumption verification via cogni-claims
• Affinity clustering + HMW synthesis (guided)

Develop (diverge) — Generate and explore options

• Value modeling via cogni-trends
• Proposition framing via cogni-portfolio
• Scenario planning (guided)

Deliver (converge) — Validate and package outcomes

• Final claims verification
• Business case modeling (guided)
• Deliverable generation via consulting-export

This is a starting framework — methods adapt as understanding deepens. Ready to begin Discover?

7. Transition to Discover (Optional)

If the user seems eager to dive in, transition directly to the consulting-discover skill. If they seem uncertain, end with a clear next-step pointer — they can start any time with consulting-discover or check status with consulting-resume. Read the room rather than always asking.

Example

A consultant says: "I need to build a business case for migrating our telco client's BSS stack to a cloud-native platform. Budget is around €2M, they want a decision by end of Q2."

Setup would extract:

• Engagement: "CloudCo BSS Cloud Migration"
• Client: CloudCo (or whatever the client name is)
• Vision class: business-case
• Desired outcome: Investment justification for BSS-to-cloud migration
• Scope: BSS stack, cloud-native target architecture
• Constraints: ~€2M budget, Q2 deadline
• Industry: Telecommunications

Then confirm, scaffold, map to deliverables (Business Case XLSX+DOCX, Executive Summary PPTX, Action Roadmap, Claim Verification Log), and preview the phase plan.

Important Notes

• Engagements are isolated in separate directories (cogni-consulting/<slug>/) so multiple client projects can coexist without file conflicts
• If an engagement already exists, the init script returns without overwriting — no risk of data loss
• Downstream skills use the updated timestamp to detect stale engagements, so keep it current when state changes
• Communication Language: If language is set in consulting-project.json, communicate in that language. Technical terms, skill names, and CLI commands remain in English.