postmortem-writing
Write effective blameless postmortems with root cause analysis, timelines, and action items. Use when conducting incident reviews, writing postmortem documents, or improving incident response processes.
80
71%
Does it follow best practices?
Impact
92%
1.26xAverage score across 3 eval scenarios
Passed
No known issues
Optimize this skill with Tessl
npx tessl skill review --optimize ./tests/ext_conformance/artifacts/agents-wshobson/incident-response/skills/postmortem-writing/SKILL.mdQuality
Discovery
100%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 is a well-crafted skill description that clearly communicates specific capabilities (blameless postmortems, root cause analysis, timelines, action items) and includes an explicit 'Use when' clause with natural trigger terms. It uses proper third-person voice and is concise without being vague. The description is distinctive enough to avoid conflicts with other skills.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | Lists multiple specific concrete actions: 'Write effective blameless postmortems', 'root cause analysis', 'timelines', and 'action items'. These are distinct, concrete deliverables. | 3 / 3 |
Completeness | Clearly answers both 'what' (write blameless postmortems with root cause analysis, timelines, and action items) and 'when' (explicit 'Use when' clause covering incident reviews, writing postmortem documents, or improving incident response processes). | 3 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Includes strong natural keywords users would say: 'postmortems', 'root cause analysis', 'incident reviews', 'postmortem documents', 'incident response', 'blameless', 'timelines', 'action items'. Good coverage of terms an engineer would naturally use. | 3 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | Occupies a clear niche around incident postmortems and incident response. The terms 'blameless postmortem', 'root cause analysis', and 'incident review' are highly specific and unlikely to conflict with other skills. | 3 / 3 |
Total | 12 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
42%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
The skill provides highly actionable, concrete templates that are immediately usable for writing postmortems, which is its primary strength. However, it is severely bloated - explaining concepts Claude already understands (blameless culture philosophy, basic facilitation techniques), including three full templates inline, and lacking any progressive disclosure structure. The content would be far more effective as a lean overview with references to separate template files.
Suggestions
Reduce the main file to a concise overview (~50 lines) with the key postmortem structure and one compact template, moving the full Standard Postmortem, 5 Whys, and Quick Postmortem templates to separate referenced files (e.g., TEMPLATES.md)
Remove explanations of concepts Claude already knows: blameless culture philosophy, facilitation basics like 'encourage quiet participants', and the 'When to Use This Skill' section
Move the Facilitation Guide to a separate FACILITATION.md file and reference it from the main skill
Add a validation checkpoint such as a completeness checklist (e.g., 'Before finalizing: verify all action items have owners, due dates, and tickets; confirm timeline has no gaps; ensure root cause goes beyond proximate cause')
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | Extremely verbose at ~300+ lines. Explains concepts Claude already knows well (blameless culture, what postmortems are, facilitation tips like 'encourage quiet participants'). The full example postmortem template with fictional data is excessively detailed - the same guidance could be conveyed in a fraction of the space. Multiple templates with overlapping content further bloat the document. | 1 / 3 |
Actionability | Provides fully concrete, copy-paste-ready templates with specific examples including timelines, 5 Whys analysis, action item tables with owners/dates/tickets, and a quick postmortem format. The templates are immediately usable with clear structure and realistic example data. | 3 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | The Quick Start timeline provides a clear sequence (Day 0 through Quarterly), and the meeting facilitation guide has a structured 60-minute agenda. However, there are no explicit validation checkpoints - no guidance on reviewing draft quality, verifying action items are properly scoped, or ensuring the postmortem meets completeness criteria before finalization. | 2 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | Monolithic wall of text with everything inline. Three full templates, a facilitation guide, anti-patterns table, best practices, and resources are all crammed into one file. The templates and facilitation guide should be separate referenced files, with SKILL.md serving as a concise overview pointing to them. | 1 / 3 |
Total | 7 / 12 Passed |
Validation
100%Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.
Validation — 11 / 11 Passed
Validation for skill structure
No warnings or errors.
- Repository
- Dicklesworthstone/pi_agent_rust
- Commit
6e3d68c
- Reviewed
Table of Contents
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