Designs a paid online course structure backward from the student transformation — before/after states, one module per milestone, 5-12 minute lessons with one action each, and completion-first sequencing that front-loads quick wins. Use when a creator says "help me outline my course", "how many modules should my course have", "my course feels bloated, what do I cut", or "how do I structure the course so people actually finish". Do NOT use for planning a single lesson in depth — use lesson-plan-builder instead — or for sequencing objectives across multiple courses — use curriculum-mapper instead.
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name: course-outline-architect
description: Designs a paid online course structure backward from the student transformation — before/after states, one module per milestone, 5-12 minute lessons with one action each, and completion-first sequencing that front-loads quick wins. Use when a creator says "help me outline my course", "how many modules should my course have", "my course feels bloated, what do I cut", or "how do I structure the course so people actually finish". Do NOT use for planning a single lesson in depth — use lesson-plan-builder instead — or for sequencing objectives across multiple courses — use curriculum-mapper instead.
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# Course Outline Architect
Most paid courses are built forward from everything the creator knows, and the result is a 12-hour brain dump that students abandon by module two. Industry completion rates run a brutal 10 to 15 percent, and a course nobody finishes produces no results, no testimonials, and no word of mouth — which quietly kills every future launch. This skill designs the course backward from one transformation, so every module is a milestone and every lesson is one action, and it enforces the scope cuts that make finishing possible.
Install this skill first in the Course Creator Launch System pack. The transformation statement it produces is the raw material for course-sales-page and launch-email-sequence, and the completion targets it sets are what community-engagement-playbook exists to hit.
Work the example throughout: Dana, a productivity consultant with an 8,000-subscriber email list, building "Notion OS for Consultants" at $297.
## Operating procedure
Follow the steps in order. The transformation comes first because every later decision — module count, lesson scope, what to cut — is judged against it. Deciding modules before the transformation is how brain dumps happen.
### Step 1: Collect the inputs
Gather these from the creator. If a number or claim is a guess, label it a guess and move on.
1. The topic and the creator's proof they can teach it (client results, own results).
2. The specific student. One person, not a demographic. Dana's: a solo consultant juggling six tools who loses hours weekly to admin.
3. The before state: what the student's week looks like now, in their words.
4. The after state: what is concretely different when the course has worked.… install to load the full skillSign in to rate and review this skill.
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