Evaluate or develop strategy using Richard Rumelt's kernel of good strategy — Diagnosis, Guiding Policy, and Coherent Actions. Use when you need to cut through vague strategic plans and get to the hard choices, or when you suspect your "strategy" is actually just a list of goals.
80
76%
Does it follow best practices?
Impact
Pending
No eval scenarios have been run
Passed
No known issues
Optimize this skill with Tessl
npx tessl skill review --optimize ./product-skills/skills/good-strategy-bad-strategy/SKILL.mdQuality
Discovery
75%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 solid description that clearly identifies a specific strategic framework and provides explicit 'Use when' guidance with two relatable trigger scenarios. Its main weakness is that the capability description could be more concrete about what specific outputs or analyses the skill produces (e.g., 'diagnose the core challenge, define a guiding policy, and outline coherent actions'). The trigger terms are adequate but could benefit from broader coverage of how users naturally talk about strategy work.
Suggestions
Expand the capability list with more concrete actions, e.g., 'Diagnoses the core strategic challenge, defines a guiding policy, outlines coherent actions, and identifies when goals are masquerading as strategy.'
Add more natural trigger terms users might say, such as 'strategic planning,' 'business strategy,' 'competitive strategy,' 'strategy review,' or 'strategy document.'
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | The description names the domain (strategy evaluation/development) and references a specific framework (Rumelt's kernel with Diagnosis, Guiding Policy, Coherent Actions), but doesn't list multiple concrete actions beyond 'evaluate or develop strategy.' It identifies the framework components but doesn't describe what specific outputs or analyses are produced. | 2 / 3 |
Completeness | Clearly answers both 'what' (evaluate or develop strategy using Rumelt's kernel framework with its three components) and 'when' (explicit 'Use when' clause covering two scenarios: cutting through vague strategic plans and when a 'strategy' is actually just a list of goals). The trigger guidance is explicit and actionable. | 3 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Includes some good natural terms like 'strategy,' 'strategic plans,' 'goals,' and 'hard choices,' plus the specific framework name 'Richard Rumelt's kernel of good strategy.' However, it misses common variations users might say like 'strategic planning,' 'competitive strategy,' 'business strategy,' 'strategic analysis,' or 'strategy document.' | 2 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | Highly distinctive due to the specific framework reference (Richard Rumelt's kernel of good strategy) and the three named components (Diagnosis, Guiding Policy, Coherent Actions). This is unlikely to conflict with other skills unless there are multiple strategy framework skills, and even then the Rumelt specificity differentiates it. | 3 / 3 |
Total | 10 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
77%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This is a well-crafted strategic thinking skill with strong actionability and clear workflow structure. Its main strength is the concrete, specific guidance for both evaluating and developing strategy using Rumelt's framework, with built-in validation checks. The primary weakness is that the prompt template is quite lengthy and could benefit from tighter editing and better progressive disclosure by splitting the evaluation and development paths into referenced files.
Suggestions
Consider moving the detailed prompt template sections (Bad Strategy Detector, Strategy Development Steps) into separate reference files to reduce the main SKILL.md length and improve progressive disclosure.
Tighten the explanatory text within each step — for example, the bullet lists under 'A good diagnosis should' and 'Coherent actions should be' could be more concise since Claude can infer much of this from the framework context.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | The skill is moderately verbose. While the framework content is valuable and not explaining things Claude already knows (it's teaching a specific strategic framework), there's significant repetition and some sections could be tightened. The prompt template is quite long (~150 lines) with explanatory text that could be more concise. However, most content earns its place as framework-specific guidance. | 2 / 3 |
Actionability | The skill provides highly concrete, actionable guidance. It includes a complete prompt template with specific evaluation criteria (four hallmarks of bad strategy with examples), scoring rubrics (Strong/Weak/Missing), step-by-step strategy development process with clear deliverables ('Write the diagnosis in 2-3 paragraphs'), and specific tests for each element. The guidance is specific enough to be directly executable. | 3 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | The workflow is clearly sequenced with two distinct paths (evaluate vs. develop), each with well-defined steps. The evaluation path follows a logical sequence: Bad Strategy Detector → Kernel Assessment → Rewrite Recommendation. The development path has five clearly numbered steps with validation built in (e.g., 'Test the guiding policy' with three specific checks). The branching logic is explicit and well-structured. | 3 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | The skill references [framework.md](references/framework.md) for detailed framework definitions, which is good progressive disclosure. However, no bundle files were provided, so we can't verify the reference exists. The main content is quite long and monolithic — the detailed prompt template could potentially be split into separate reference files for the evaluation and development paths. The tips section at the end with cross-references to other skills is well done. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 10 / 12 Passed |
Validation
90%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 / 11 Passed
Validation for skill structure
| Criteria | Description | Result |
|---|---|---|
frontmatter_unknown_keys | Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata | Warning |
Total | 10 / 11 Passed | |
221ffaa
Table of Contents
If you maintain this skill, you can claim it as your own. Once claimed, you can manage eval scenarios, bundle related skills, attach documentation or rules, and ensure cross-agent compatibility.