0002 — Product Data as the first cohort

Date: 2026-04-14 Status: accepted (Claire confirmed in Apr 14 Slack: "Product Data feels like the best first wedge — especially now that we're not moving forward with a PLM this year.")

Context

The initial COE proposal recommended three potential starting areas: content production / localization, product data / PIF-to-retailer flow, and a third decision-support track. The intent was to run concurrent cohorts from the start.

Claire's April 14 feedback resolves the ambiguity: Product Data is the first wedge. Two specific reasons:

  1. Balsam decided not to move forward with a PLM this year.
  2. Kate and Mary are strong AI users already and the workflow is their day job.

She also flagged a sequencing risk: "let's be careful about sequencing so we don't 'solve downstream pain' (ex: retailer-specific asks) in a way that just moves inaccurate data faster."

Decision

Product Data is Cohort 1. It launches in May 2026 at the Monterey Bay onsite.

Core owners: Kate Hollywood and Mary Corrick (confirmed by Claire in Apr 14 Slack).

Scope framing: upstream before downstream. The cohort works on the core product data workflow — producers, consumers, PIF structure — not on retailer-specific format translation or downstream consumer-team adaptations.

Cohort 1 runs solo during Month 1. Cohort 2 starts in Month 2–3, picked by the Operating Council from the backlog. Concurrent cohorts become possible from Month 3 onward.

Marketing is not Cohort 2 by default. Marketing workflow reimagination happens as a parallel engagement (Pascal Staud / Karima), not as a COE cohort during the founding period.

Reasoning

Why Product Data first:

  • No PLM in 2026 means the existing workflow carries more weight than it was designed for.
  • The strategy sprint already mapped the workflow in detail — 19 steps, 18 bottlenecks. Kate did the discovery; the cohort extends it.
  • Kate and Mary are strong AI users and own the workflow today. Real core-owner candidates.
  • Product data is upstream of retailer onboarding, content production, international expansion, and eCommerce. Fixing the source helps four downstream workflows more than fixing any one of them.
  • Claire and France have both named this as the right first bet.

Why solo, not concurrent:

  • Cohort cycle rhythm takes setup. Running two cohorts from day one risks both being shallow.
  • The Operating Council is new and still forming its own cadence. Starting with one cohort lets the priority-call flow settle.
  • Capacity constraint on the Goose Group side: two core owners at ~50% each, two facilitators, build-partner scoping — enough to do one cohort well and learn the rhythm.

Why upstream before downstream:

  • Claire's explicit warning: don't move bad data faster.
  • Every downstream workflow (retailer onboarding, international launches, eCommerce, marketing) depends on product data quality.
  • A downstream fix that depends on upstream stability creates a dependency we'd have to redo later.
  • This becomes a shared tenet for the whole COE: upstream before downstream.

Why marketing is parallel, not cohort:

  • Marketing is the function flagged as "biggest opportunity and most resistant" in the sprint.
  • A marketing-specific strategy partner (Pascal) with peer credibility is a better fit than a cohort structure at this stage.
  • Putting marketing through the COE cohort path before the COE has proven itself would test a new program on its hardest test case. Bad odds.

Consequences

  • Cohort 1 package created: cohorts/01-product-data/.
  • Cohort 2 is not decided yet. Operating Council picks in Month 2.
  • Marketing engagement with Pascal runs on its own track; it is not scoped under the COE retainer.
  • Retailer onboarding (Bob McDonald's team) is explicitly out of Cohort 1 scope. May be a Cohort 3+ candidate once upstream work is more stable.

Open items

  • Raise Clint Borrill with Claire before approaching him. If Clint is out, find another AI-fluent builder who consumes product data.
  • Identify the right merchandiser candidate with Claire / merchandising leadership (not Brooks — too senior for 20% commitment).
  • Identify an eCommerce participant (can slip to week 2 of the cycle).