# Churn autopsy Human Guide

## What This Is For
Dissect a client departure with forensic rigor and produce churn-autopsy.md: a historical record and retention playbook that turns a loss into organizational learning. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for go-to-market work: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Churn autopsy agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for churn autopsy.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Churn autopsy guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- `references/inputs.md` -- required and optional data to gather before analysis
- `references/analysis-framework.md` -- the six-phase forensic method
- `references/root-cause-taxonomy.md` -- root cause categories and subcategories
- `references/output-template.md` -- full `churn-autopsy.md` report structure
- `references/standards.md` -- objectivity, rigor, sensitivity, incomplete-data, and operating rules
- **Collect.** Gather all available inputs per `references/inputs.md`. Read provided files directly; query connected CRM and analytics MCP tools for account, usage, and support data. Note any gaps.
- **Organize.** Build the full chronological timeline from first touch to cancellation before attempting analysis.
- **Classify.** Assign one primary root cause and any contributing causes using `references/root-cause-taxonomy.md`.
- **Draft.** Write the report in the structure defined in `references/output-template.md`.
- **Challenge.** Review every conclusion against `references/standards.md`; attempt to disprove each finding before keeping it.
- **Finalize.** Produce `churn-autopsy.md` with all sections complete in the current working directory or a user-specified location.
- Account Profile Construction

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Contents, Workflow, Supporting file: references/analysis-framework.md, Phase 1: Establish the Baseline, Phase 2: Timeline of Decline, Phase 3: Root Cause Classification, Phase 4: Missed Warning Signs Audit, Phase 5: Counterfactual Analysis, Phase 6: Lessons Learned and Systemic Recommendations, Supporting file: references/inputs.md.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- `references/inputs.md` -- required and optional data to gather before analysis
- Apply all six phases systematically. Do not skip phases.
- Phase 4: Missed Warning Signs Audit
- This is the most operationally valuable section. For every warning sign that was present but not acted upon:
- Rate the overall early warning system performance for this account:
- The resources that would have been required (executive time, engineering effort, financial concessions)
- Write the specific playbook that, if executed from the first warning sign, would have maximized the probability of retention:
- List current accounts that show similar warning signs

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Churn autopsy human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the onewave-ai/claude-skills skill entry for `churn-autopsy`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Churn Autopsy

Dissect a client departure with forensic rigor and produce `churn-autopsy.md`: a historical record and retention playbook that turns a loss into organizational learning.

## Contents

- `references/inputs.md` -- required and optional data to gather before analysis
- `references/analysis-framework.md` -- the six-phase forensic method
- `references/root-cause-taxonomy.md` -- root cause categories and subcategories
- `references/output-template.md` -- full `churn-autopsy.md` report structure
- `references/standards.md` -- objectivity, rigor, sensitivity, incomplete-data, and operating rules

## Workflow

1. **Collect.** Gather all available inputs per `references/inputs.md`. Read provided files directly; query connected CRM and analytics MCP tools for account, usage, and support data. Note any gaps.
2. **Organize.** Build the full chronological timeline from first touch to cancellation before attempting analysis.
3. **Analyze.** Apply the six phases in `references/analysis-framework.md` systematically, without skipping: baseline, timeline of decline, root cause classification, missed warning signs, counterfactual analysis, lessons learned.
4. **Classify.** Assign one primary root cause and any contributing causes using `references/root-cause-taxonomy.md`.
5. **Draft.** Write the report in the structure defined in `references/output-template.md`.
6. **Challenge.** Review every conclusion against `references/standards.md`; attempt to disprove each finding before keeping it.
7. **Finalize.** Produce `churn-autopsy.md` with all sections complete in the current working directory or a user-specified location.

---

## Supporting file: references/analysis-framework.md

# Analysis Framework

Apply all six phases systematically. Do not skip phases.

## Phase 1: Establish the Baseline

Before analyzing what went wrong, establish what "right" looked like for this account.

1. **Account Profile Construction**
   - Reconstruct the full account timeline from first touch to final cancellation
   - Document the original value proposition sold and expected outcomes
   - Identify all stakeholders: economic buyer, champion, end users, detractors
   - Map the organizational chart as it existed at key moments
   - Calculate total lifetime value realized vs projected at time of sale

2. **Health Score Reconstruction**
   - If a health score model exists, reconstruct the score trajectory over time
   - If no health score exists, build a retrospective one using available data
   - Identify the "peak health" moment and the inflection point where decline began
   - Benchmark this account's trajectory against retained accounts of similar size/segment

3. **Expectation vs Reality Mapping**
   - Document what was promised during the sales process
   - Document what was actually delivered and when
   - Identify any gaps between promise and delivery
   - Note whether the client's business context changed in ways that affected fit

## Phase 2: Timeline of Decline

Construct a detailed chronological narrative of the account's deterioration. This is the core forensic work.

1. **Signal Detection Timeline**
   Build a month-by-month (or week-by-week for shorter accounts) timeline that includes:
   - Usage metrics with trend arrows
   - Support ticket volume and severity
   - Engagement touchpoints (meetings, emails, calls)
   - NPS/CSAT data points
   - Stakeholder changes (departures, role changes, new hires)
   - Contract events (renewals, expansions, contractions)
   - Product releases and their relevance to this account
   - Competitive mentions or evaluation signals
   - Internal team changes (CSM transitions, rep turnover)

2. **Inflection Point Identification**
   For each significant negative shift in the timeline:
   - What changed and when exactly
   - Was the change sudden or gradual
   - What was the proximate cause
   - What was the underlying cause
   - Was this signal visible at the time with existing monitoring
   - If visible, was it acted upon and how
   - If not visible, what monitoring would have caught it

3. **Point of No Return Analysis**