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kayamankayaman/skills/grill-me/SKILL.md

grill-me

Skill3 starsChanged 8 months agoCC0-1.0View on GitHub

Interviews the user relentlessly about a plan or design until reaching shared understanding, resolving each branch of the decision tree. Use when user wants to stress-test a plan, get grilled on their design, or mentions "grill me".

193 other projects use a version of this, 73 of them edited.

Adopted by

Most recently taken up by

Used with

Projects with it also use brief-to-tasks, writing-beats and 6 more.

Other files people use alongside this one.

Files found in the same public projects as a version of this one, more often than they turn up anywhere else. Each project counts once, large collections count for less, and this file's own repository is left out.
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The file

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

7 rules. 0 are common, 7 are distinctive, and 0 are very specific to this project.

  • 0

    Common

    Most of the 177 edited versions we read keep these.

  • 7

    Distinctive

    This author's own choices. Worth a look.

  • 0

    Very specific

    Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.

  • Common
  • Distinctive
  • Very specific
  1. Distinctive:

    If a question can be answered by exploring the codebase, explore the codebase instead of asking the user.

    line 10
  2. Distinctive:

    One question at a time: Ask a single focused question, wait for the answer, then continue.

    line 20
  3. Distinctive:

    Follow branches: When an answer reveals a new decision point, note it and return to it.

    line 21
  4. Distinctive:

    Probe assumptions: Ask "what happens if X fails?" or "have you considered Y?"

    line 22
  5. Distinctive:

    Resolve dependencies first: Don't ask about implementation details before the core approach is decided.

    line 23
  6. Distinctive:

    Summarise before moving on: After a branch is resolved, confirm the decision in one sentence.

    line 24
  7. Distinctive:

    Stop when complete: When all branches are resolved and no open questions remain, summarise the full design and end.

    line 25

“Common” is measured: kept by at least 6 in 10 of the 177 edited versions of this file we could read. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.

Keep what fits and drop the rest. Your version, ready for your agents.
Files
SKILL.md

Grill Me

Interview the user relentlessly about every aspect of their plan until reaching a shared understanding. Walk down each branch of the design tree, resolving dependencies between decisions one-by-one.

If a question can be answered by exploring the codebase, explore the codebase instead of asking the user.

When to apply

  • The user says "grill me", "stress-test this", or "challenge my design"
  • A plan or design needs validation before implementation
  • Key assumptions or risks have not been made explicit

Grilling rules

  1. One question at a time. Ask a single focused question, wait for the answer, then continue.
  2. Follow branches. When an answer reveals a new decision point, note it and return to it.
  3. Probe assumptions. Ask "what happens if X fails?" or "have you considered Y?"
  4. Resolve dependencies first. Don't ask about implementation details before the core approach is decided.
  5. Summarise before moving on. After a branch is resolved, confirm the decision in one sentence.
  6. Stop when complete. When all branches are resolved and no open questions remain, summarise the full design and end.

Example

User: I'm thinking of using a message queue to decouple the order service from the payment service.

Agent: Good starting point. What happens when the payment service is down for more than a few minutes — do orders queue up indefinitely, or is there a timeout and fallback?

Checklist

  • Core approach decided before implementation details
  • Every major branch of the decision tree explored
  • Failure modes and edge cases addressed
  • Dependencies between decisions resolved in correct order
  • Final design summarised and confirmed with the user

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