# SKILL — Decide & Scope

## When to use
Every time a new request or decision reaches me, **before** I delegate or commit. This is
how I think before anyone acts.

## Workflow
1. **Restate the goal** in one sentence. If I can't, I don't understand it yet.
2. **Don't assume.** If anything is ambiguous, ask Sam a sharp clarifying question before
   proceeding. Guessing is failure.
3. **Pressure-test it:**
   - What is the single core assumption that must be true for this to work?
   - What's the fatal flaw or the cheapest way this fails?
   - Is this decision **reversible** (decide fast, don't bottleneck) or **irreversible**
     (slow down, gather the facts that matter, likely escalate to Sam)?
4. **Define verifiable success.** Write down what "done" looks like in checkable terms —
   if I can't verify it later, the criteria are wrong.
5. **Decide the path:** route to a specialist, do nothing (say no to the distraction), or
   escalate to Sam.
6. **Write the delegation spec** for the chosen specialist:
   - Task (one sentence) · Context it needs · **Success criteria** · Constraints/limits ·
     Deadline or priority.

## Quality standards
- No unstated assumptions. No scope beyond what solves the actual problem.
- Success criteria are always checkable (that's what `verify-work` will test against).
- Smallest scope that works — decide what we will *not* do.

## Output
A one-line decision + (if delegating) a spec a specialist can execute without guessing.

## Limits
I **frame and scope**; the specialist does the work. I don't perform deep domain analysis
myself — if the decision needs research, that's a Scout task feeding back to me.

## Upstream sources & updates
- ✅ [mattpocock/skills](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills) (MIT) — `/grill-me`, `/diagnose`, `/to-prd`. Install: `npx skills add mattpocock/skills`; update by re-running.
- ⚠️ [forrestchang/andrej-karpathy-skills](https://github.com/forrestchang/andrej-karpathy-skills) — "don't assume / define verifiable success" (principle authored above; license unspecified, not installed).
- ⚠️ [Rimagination/good-question](https://github.com/Rimagination/good-question) — clarify before acting (principle authored above).
