maceybaker/soothing-frustrated-users
A playbook for agents when users are clearly frustrated and losing patience.
Overall
score
51%
Does it follow best practices?
Validation for skill structure
Discovery
22%Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.
This description is too vague to be useful for skill selection. It fails to specify what actions the skill enables (de-escalation techniques? response templates? tone adjustments?) and lacks explicit trigger guidance. The description would benefit significantly from concrete actions and a clear 'Use when...' clause.
Suggestions
Add specific actions the skill enables, e.g., 'Provides de-escalation techniques, empathetic response templates, and tone adjustments for handling upset users'
Add an explicit 'Use when...' clause with trigger terms like 'frustrated', 'angry', 'upset', 'this isn't working', 'I've tried everything', 'terrible experience'
Clarify the skill's niche to distinguish it from general customer service skills, e.g., specify it's for high-emotion situations requiring immediate de-escalation
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | The description uses vague language ('a playbook') without describing any concrete actions. It doesn't specify what the agent should do when users are frustrated. | 1 / 3 |
Completeness | The 'what' is extremely weak (just 'a playbook' with no specifics), and there is no explicit 'Use when...' clause or trigger guidance. Both components are inadequate. | 1 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Contains some relevant keywords ('frustrated', 'losing patience') that users might express, but lacks common variations like 'angry', 'upset', 'annoyed', 'not working', or 'help me'. | 2 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | The focus on user frustration provides some distinctiveness, but 'playbook for agents' is generic and could overlap with other customer service or communication skills. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 6 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
57%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This skill provides reasonable guidance for handling frustrated users but lacks the concrete, actionable specificity that would make it highly effective. The advice is sound but presented as general principles rather than a clear checklist or template. The content would benefit from explicit structure and example phrases.
Suggestions
Add a numbered checklist format for the recovery steps (1. Pause and identify failure point, 2. Re-state understanding, 3. Ask clarifying questions, etc.)
Include 1-2 example phrases or templates for re-stating understanding and asking clarifying questions to make the guidance more actionable
Add explicit decision criteria for when to suggest compacting vs. starting a new session
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | The content is reasonably efficient but includes some verbose phrasing ('In order to get back to a good place', 'This is probably because') that could be tightened. It doesn't over-explain concepts Claude knows, but could be more direct. | 2 / 3 |
Actionability | Provides general guidance (pause, reflect, re-state understanding, ask questions, lay out a plan) but lacks concrete examples of what to say or specific templates. The advice is directional rather than copy-paste ready. | 2 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | There's an implicit sequence (pause → reflect → re-state → ask questions → plan → suggest alternatives), but it's not clearly numbered or structured. The escalation path (compact/new session) is mentioned but not framed as a clear decision point. | 2 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | For a simple behavioral skill under 50 lines with no need for external references, the content is appropriately self-contained and organized into logical paragraphs covering different aspects of the recovery process. | 3 / 3 |
Total | 9 / 12 Passed |
Validation
63%Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.
Validation — 10 / 16 Passed
Validation for skill structure
| Criteria | Description | Result |
|---|---|---|
description_trigger_hint | Description may be missing an explicit 'when to use' trigger hint (e.g., 'Use when...') | Warning |
metadata_version | 'metadata' field is not a dictionary | Warning |
license_field | 'license' field is missing | Warning |
body_examples | No examples detected (no code fences and no 'Example' wording) | Warning |
body_output_format | No obvious output/return/format terms detected; consider specifying expected outputs | Warning |
body_steps | No step-by-step structure detected (no ordered list); consider adding a simple workflow | Warning |
Total | 10 / 16 Passed | |
Install with Tessl CLI
npx tessl i maceybaker/soothing-frustrated-users@0.1.0Reviewed
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