Capstone: UBF landscape, STAR daily work and ORBITAL plan

Dojo programme link: this lesson matches Developer week 1 (see the whole product) and week 3 (plan the work), and the Master Developer work on planning and budgets. It uses the framework lessons on UBF, STAR and SHIFT and ORBITAL; read those first if the words are new. This is capstone steps 2, 3 and 4 of the overview.

1. Why this matters

After DREAM you have an evidenced idea. Three questions come next, and each has a framework:

1. Where does this product sit among others? The Universal Business Framework (UBF) gives a map.
2. How will we run each day? The S.M.A.R.T. STAR guide gives a short note format that keeps daily work aligned with the plan.
3. What is the whole plan? The ORBITAL framework gives seven headings for goals, people, money, measures, movement of things, tasks and coordination.

A PDM must be able to work these with colleagues from every discipline. Marketing wants the landscape. Finance wants the budget. Operations wants the logistics. You want one set of files that all three can read and that an agent can help keep up to date.

2. Key ideas, explained

2.1 UBF: the landscape

The UBF looks at industries and companies using the picture of the universe. It is a map, not a measure. Its purpose is to help you see relationships and decide where to compete, cooperate or avoid.

UBF word	Meaning	Question it asks you
Galaxy	An entire industry, identified by an industry classification code	Which industry am I in and who else is in it?
Black hole	A very large company at the centre of a galaxy that pulls everything towards it	Who is the dominant player and how do they affect me?
Super nova	A big event that changes the whole industry (merger, law change, breakthrough)	What event could change my market overnight?
Solar system	A group of companies around a holding company: suppliers, customers, competitors	What ecosystem do I depend on?
Sun	The largest visible company of a solar system	Who is the visible centre of my ecosystem?
Super star	A flagship project or company with the potential to become a sun	Do I have a project that deserves more investment?
Star	A small company or project, managed with S.M.A.R.T. STAR	What is my current project?
Moon	A side project, startup or department around a star, managed with ORBITAL	What supports my main project?
Comets and asteroids	Unstable projects that need better planning or avoidance	Which of my projects is risky or unstable?

The framework describes a growth path: small projects (the source calls them droids) become worlds (companies), then solar systems (holding companies), then galaxies (industries). Treat that as a way of thinking about scale. Most products stay a star for a long time, and that is fine.

How a PDM uses it. For each neighbour you write one line: who they are, how they affect you, what you do about it. That is all. A page.

2.2 STAR: daily work, in short notes

S.M.A.R.T. STAR is a note format for tasks, standups and short reports.

S.M.A.R.T. says each task should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timed.

STAR has four parts:

Part	Meaning	Ask yourself
Space	The context around the task: where it sits on the roadmap, competitors, shared resources, outside factors	Where does this fit and what else is affected?
Track	The path of the task over time: history, now, next steps	Where did it start, where is it, where does it go?
Assist	The concrete actions and changes today, what supports them and why	What exactly will we do today, with what help?
Reach	The expected result and wider impact, with measures where possible	What will be true when this is done?

A STAR note is short: four paragraphs of two or three sentences. It replaces a long status report.

SHIFT: a four-hour Focus Shift. The framework also names a protected four-hour block of time in which a person works on one or more ANDROID activities (advance, network, design, research, optimize, implement, deliver) to move a product (lesson 20). Plan it like an appointment: choose the activity, the goal and what “done” looks like for four hours. A reviewer can then ask: does it fit the goal, is it clear, is it possible in four hours, and what impact will it have?

2.3 ORBITAL: the whole-product plan

ORBITAL is the planning frame for a project, programme, company or department.

Letter	Part	In plain words	Who helps most
O	Objective	The goal, clear and measurable, in line with strategy	Founder, product
R	Resources	The people, tools, equipment and materials; skills versus needs	Operations, PDM
B	Budget	The money: itemised costs, when they fall due, and how you control them	Finance
I	Indicators	The measures of success (and, where fitting, wider goals such as sustainability)	Product, finance, marketing
T	Transport	How energy, goods or information move from A to B	Operations, engineering
A	Activities	The tasks and events, in a timeline with milestones	PDM, product
L	Logistics	Coordination, communication, risk, and a plan for monitoring, evaluation and learning	Operations, PDM

The key habit: ORBITAL gives finance, operations, product and engineering a single page they can all read. If the budget in section B does not match the activities in section A, the plan has a hole.

3. Step by step

3.1 Step 2: map the landscape (UBF)

1. Write your galaxy. One sentence: the industry and its classification code in your country (look up the official code list).
2. List five to ten neighbours and place each as black hole, sun, solar system member, comet or other. Write one line each: how they affect you and what you do.
3. List two or three possible super novas: events that would change your market. Mark each as watch, prepare or ignore.
4. Say where you are: star, moon, or something else, and why.
5. Save as docs/ubf-map.md with sources, and a “last checked” date.

3.2 Step 3: set the daily rhythm (STAR and SHIFT)

1. Pick the current task (an issue from your tracker).
2. Write the STAR note in the issue or in star/YYYY-MM-DD.md.
3. Check S.M.A.R.T. Is it specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timed?
4. Schedule a Focus Shift of four hours for the work that matters most this week, and write its goal.
5. At the end of the shift, write two lines: what moved and what is next.

3.3 Step 4: write the ORBITAL plan

1. Objective: one sentence, a number and a date, tied to your product brief.
2. Resources: list people (with roles), tools and materials. Mark gaps.
3. Budget: make a table of costs by category and month. Mark each cost as certain or estimated. Add one line for “what we do if costs rise”.
4. Indicators: pick three to five measures with targets, a source and an owner.
5. Transport: describe how things move: physical items, data, money.
6. Activities: list the main tasks with dates. Link the epics (written by you in step 7).
7. Logistics: describe who talks to whom, how often, how risks are tracked, and how you will review and learn.
8. Save as docs/orbital.md. Review it with finance and operations people.

4. Worked example: TrailMug

4.1 The UBF map (extract)

UBF word	TrailMug’s neighbour	How it affects us	What we do
Galaxy	Food and drink service and the reusable packaging industry	Sets the language and rules our partners live by	Learn the local health rules for reused cups
Black hole	Large café chains and big cup makers	They can start their own scheme and have more reach	Focus on independent cafés and a simple shared return
Solar system	Local cafés, suppliers, cleaners, waste services	We need all of them for the loop to work	Map them in the catalogue (step 5)
Super nova (possible)	A city rule on single-use cups	Could grow or end our market	Watch; prepare a one-page response
Comet	Building our own scanning hardware	Costs money and delays learning	Avoid; use phones and tablets
Our place	A star with one moon: the partner-café trial	A small project, with a side trial	Keep the trial small

These neighbours are generic on purpose. In your own map, name the real ones, with sources.

4.2 A STAR note

Task: Show the scan result to the barista within two seconds in the trial café (due Friday). Space: This belongs to epic 4 (return a cup in under ten seconds). It touches the payments contact only if the deposit changes. A competitor is testing QR codes at the till. Track: Observation notes were done last week. The API is in review. Today the counter page; tomorrow tests; Friday the trial start. Assist: Today an agent builds the counter page to the acceptance criteria in issue 42. I review the diff after lunch and ask Leo’s barista to try a paper version. Reach: If it works, a return takes under ten seconds in the trial. That is the number we use to decide whether to widen the trial. (Target is fictional.)

4.3 The ORBITAL plan (extract)

Part	TrailMug (fictional values)
Objective	Run a six-week trial in three partner cafés in which a return takes under ten seconds and at least 80 percent of borrowed cups come back.
Resources	Maya (founder and PDM), one part-time designer, a barista champion in each café, agents for drafting and building. Gap: someone who knows local cleaning rules.
Budget	Table in an imaginary currency: tablets and stands 600; cup stock 450; part-time design 900; hosting 60 a month; contingency 10 percent. Certain items marked; estimates marked.
Indicators	Median return time; share of cups returned; failed-scan messages per week; cost per return.
Transport	Cups move between cafés by customers and a weekly pickup; data moves from counter page to API; money moves as a small deposit through a payment provider.
Activities	Weeks 1 to 2: build and test return scan. Week 3: first café. Weeks 4 to 6: widen and review. Linked to epics 1 to 4.
Logistics	Weekly note to cafés; support person on call during the trial; risks listed with owners; a review at the end of week six that feeds the next roadmap.

All values are illustrative.

5. Working with AI agents on this

What the PDM decides. What the objective is. Which neighbours matter. Which risks you accept. The budget is a decision about money and risk; finance advises and the founder decides.

What agents can do.

• Research and summarise neighbours for the UBF map, with sources.
• Draft STAR notes from your issue and git activity, for you to correct.
• Build the ORBITAL budget table from the activities list and flag mismatches.
• Compare your plan with the product brief and list inconsistencies.

Briefs you can adapt:

Read docs/dream.md and product-brief.md. Draft docs/ubf-map.md with
the table: galaxy, up to five neighbours (black hole, solar system,
comet), two possible super novas. For every neighbour give a source URL
and the date you read it. Mark any claim you could not source as UNSURE.
Do not recommend strategy.

Read docs/orbital.md. Check that every activity in section A has a cost
or an owner in sections B and R. List gaps as a table: activity, missing
item. Do not edit the plan.

How to check. Open the sources. Ask finance or a mentor to read the budget and point to the line they trust least. Make sure the activities, budget and resources line up.

Beware of invented neighbours. Agents sometimes name a company that does not exist, or give wrong facts about a real one. Check each by a quick search of its official website.

Disclose. Mark agent-drafted parts at the top of each file.

Policy starts here. Your ORBITAL Budget and Logistics lines are where agent policy begins: a monthly cap on agent runs, who may approve spend, and which kinds of work sessions may do alone. Lesson 33 turns those lines into a written policy file. See also Agent orchestration.

6. Common mistakes and how to avoid them

• Treating UBF as decoration. The map matters only if each line leads to an action.
• Overlong STAR notes. Four short paragraphs. If it needs more, the task is too big; split it.
• A budget with no link to activities. Check both ways.
• No indicators. Pick measures before you start.
• Copying numbers from examples. The numbers in these pages are fictional. Use your own, with sources.
• Skipping the review with finance and operations. A plan only they can break is better broken early.
• Using the word “inevitable”. No plan makes success certain.

7. Practice

Deliverable in git: in your capstone/ repository, on a branch plan:

1. docs/ubf-map.md with your galaxy, five or more neighbours, two possible super novas, each with a source or conversation.
2. Three STAR notes for real tasks on three different days, plus one Focus Shift plan and a two-line result.
3. docs/orbital.md with all seven parts, a budget table and at least three indicators with targets.
4. docs/review-plan.md: notes from a 20-minute review with someone from finance or operations (or a mentor playing that role), and what you changed.
5. A merge request that records which parts an agent drafted and what you rejected.

8. Review checklist

• Every UBF line leads to an action or a decision to ignore.
• STAR notes pass the S.M.A.R.T. check.
• A Focus Shift was planned and its result recorded.
• ORBITAL has all seven parts and they agree with each other.
• Budget lines are marked certain or estimated.
• Indicators have an owner, a source and a target.
• A person from finance or operations reviewed the plan.
• AI use is disclosed and sources were opened.

Next: lesson 32 lists what exists, learns about the people and writes the roadmap.