Layers User Needs
A library of techniques for eliciting and prioritizing user needs before you jump into solutions. Defaults to job stories but includes top tasks analysis, ODI desired outcomes, and methods for surfacing hidden needs that users work around. The discipline is keeping needs separate from mechanisms: strip out references to your current dashboard or CSV exports and get to what's actually true about the user in that moment. Works best when you're deliberate about who the user is and in what situation, then pushes you to mark what's observed versus assumed. If your needs are already solid and grounded, skip this and go straight to product strategy. If they're mostly assumptions, you probably want observed behavior first.
- skills.sh installs
- 2K
- GitHub stars
- 314
- last updated
- Aug 21, 2026
Install
$ npx -y skills add jamiemill/layers-skills --skill layers-user-needs --agent claude-codeInstalls into .claude/skills of the current project.
Files
/layers-user-needs
Assumes /layers-intro has been loaded. This skill is a library of techniques, not a script — see "How to use these skills" there.
User needs are what we think users are trying to achieve, and why — an interpretation built on observed behaviour and domain knowledge, not a direct capture of reality. This layer sits between the messy raw material of observation and the deliberate decisions of the solution space.
The outputs here are opportunities: needs (what users want to achieve), pains (what causes friction), and desires (improvements they'd value). All three are valid — elicit all three.
The decisions this layer makes
- Who exactly the users are whose needs we're defining — and in what situation
- What jobs they're trying to do: functional, emotional, and social
- Which needs are grounded in evidence, and which are assumptions
- Which needs matter most, and why
If the needs are already clear and grounded, don't re-elicit them for the sake of it — take them to /layers-product-strategy.
Disciplines — what keeps needs honest
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- Repository
- github.com/jamiemill/layers-skills
- First seen
- Jun 3, 2026
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