Note-and-Vote: Brainshelf Target Customer Selection
Scenario
The Brainshelf team is in Day 1 morning of their Foundation Sprint. The first sub-decision in Basics is target customer. Jamie invokes tool-note-and-vote to facilitate the silent-then-vote-then-supervote protocol.
Decision Question
Of the candidate target customers we have surfaced from our 22 interviews, which one should the Brainshelf Foundation Sprint commit to for Day 1 Basics?
Time Allocation
| Step | Duration |
|---|---|
| Framing | 1 min |
| Silent ideation | 5 min |
| Silent voting | 3 min |
| Discussion | 7 min |
| Decider supervote | 1 min |
| Total | 17 min |
Voting Method
Multi-vote (each participant gets 2 dots); Decider gets an additional supervote that overrides ties or surfaces a different choice. Attribution is on (small team, prior agreement).
Silent Ideation Board
Jamie (09:14):
- Individual collectors (read alone, library is for self)
- Active social readers (book clubs, friend recommendations, Goodreads survivors)
Alex (09:14):
- People who read on multiple formats (audio + kindle + paper) and lose track across formats
- “Book hoarders” who own more than they have read
Sam (09:15):
- Readers who hit Goodreads churn point (3+ months in, dropped because of social pressure)
- People who track in spreadsheets today (highest existing friction tolerance)
Riley (09:15):
- Book club coordinators (manage 5-20 people’s reading)
- Romance / genre readers (high volume, repeat behavior)
- People who read 25+ books/year and treat books as memory (NOT identity)
Vote Summary
| Option | Votes | Voted by |
|---|---|---|
| 25+ books/year, books-as-memory readers (Riley) | 3 | Jamie, Alex, Riley |
| Individual collectors (Jamie) | 1 | Alex |
| Active social readers (Jamie) | 1 | Sam |
| Multi-format readers (Alex) | 1 | Jamie |
| Goodreads churn readers (Sam) | 1 | Riley |
| Book club coordinators (Riley) | 0 | - |
| Romance / genre readers (Riley) | 0 | - |
| Spreadsheet trackers (Sam) | 0 | - |
| ”Book hoarders” (Alex) | 0 | - |
Total votes cast: 8 (4 participants x 2 dots each)
Discussion Notes
- Books-as-memory readers (top option): Riley argued this framing absorbs individual collectors and Goodreads churners as adjacent segments. Confirmed by Jamie and Alex against the pattern from the 22 interviews.
- Sam’s social-readers vote: “I voted for it because we know that segment well via Riley, but I’m convinced by the discussion that this is the easier, lower-leverage choice.”
- Alex’s individual-collectors vote: “I think individual collectors and books-as-memory readers are mostly the same person framed differently. I’m comfortable folding.”
- Riley’s Goodreads-churn vote: “These are real people but they are a sub-segment of the books-as-memory people. They prove the segment but don’t define it.”
- Surprise: nobody voted for book club coordinators despite Riley’s network advantage in that segment. Distribution access does not equal product-market-fit.
Decision Record
Decision: Brainshelf’s target customer for Foundation Sprint Basics is people who read 25 or more books a year and treat their personal library as memory rather than identity.
Decider: Jamie (founder, PM)
Decider rationale: “Books-as-memory readers (25+ books/year). Reading is a personal practice for these people, not a social one. That’s the customer Brainshelf serves.”
Alternatives explicitly considered and rejected:
- Active social readers (rejected: well-served by Goodreads; we can’t out-Goodreads Goodreads)
- Book club coordinators (rejected: distribution access does not equal product-market-fit)
- Romance / genre readers (rejected: high volume but not the books-as-memory framing)
- “Book hoarders” (rejected: subset of books-as-memory; not distinct enough)
- Spreadsheet trackers (rejected: too small a niche)
Confidence: High. Three of four voters aligned independently; Decider rationale matches the customer interview synthesis.
Signed: Jamie (Decider), 2026-05-13 09:30 PT
Decider Checkpoint
Decider sign-off required before Basics continues to Important Problem.
- Jamie confirms the target customer decision will hold for the remainder of the sprint.
- Jamie acknowledges what was chosen against.
- Sam, Alex, Riley confirm they can commit to designing for this customer for Day 1 PM Differentiation.
- Jamie names revisit condition: re-vote only if Day 1 PM differentiation cannot find a coherent position for this customer segment.