Shorter Loop's Guide Me flow walks you from a single objective all the way down to epics and features, one question at a time — without needing to lay out every connection by hand on the Strategy Builder canvas.Depending on how much of your strategy spine already exists for a product, Guide Me opens into one of two different views. Here's what to expect from each.Where to find it#
On your product's Dashboard, look for the Strategy Spine card and click ✦ Guide me →.View 1: Starting fresh — "Build your first strategy spine"#
If nothing has been created yet for this product, the dialog opens on Step 1 of 5 and asks one question at a time:Objective — your big strategic outcome (one sentence, outcome-oriented — e.g. "Lift annual retention to 88%").
Persona — a quick sketch of who it's for.
Opportunities — the unmet needs or friction points you see. Add as many as you like, one per line.
Solutions — for each opportunity, what you'd build.
Epics & features — for each solution, how you'd break the work down.
If you list more than one opportunity, Guide Me asks for solutions and epics for each opportunity in turn — it doesn't stop after the first one. Once you finish an opportunity's solutions and epics, you'll see:1.
"Opportunity 1 done. 2 more opportunities still need solutions — continue?"
2.
Click Continue to next opportunity → to keep going, or I'll finish later to stop there. Either way, nothing you've already entered is lost — you can always reopen Guide Me later to pick up the rest.
View 2: Picking up where you left off — "Continue your strategy spine"#
If an objective, opportunities, or more already exist for this product, Guide Me skips straight to whatever's still missing instead of starting you over from Step 1. You'll notice two differences right away:The dialog's title changes to "Continue your strategy spine."
It opens wider, so you can see more of the canvas that's already built while you keep going.
Guide Me remembers everything already on the canvas — you'll never be asked to redo an objective, opportunity, solution, or epic you've already created, even if you close the dialog and come back days later.
Leaving anytime#
Every step has a Skip option (for a step you'd rather answer later) and a ← Back option. When you're ready to work on the full canvas instead — or just want to jump out early — click Open in strategy builder. Everything you've entered so far is already there and fully editable.Quick reference#
| Situation | What you see | What happens |
|---|
| No strategy spine yet | "Build your first strategy spine," Step 1 of 5 | Objective → Persona → Opportunities, then Solutions/Epics per opportunity |
| Spine already started | "Continue your strategy spine" | Resumes at the first unanswered step; wider dialog |
| More than one opportunity | "Continue to next opportunity?" prompt | Continue to the next one, or finish later — your progress is saved either way |
Need more help?#
Reach out to your Shorter Loop support contact, or explore more guides at help.shorterloop.com. 