persuasion-through-historical-precedent

Use when advising a powerful figure to change course or retire gracefully. Systematically presents cautionary and positive historical examples to illustrate the wisdom of timely withdrawal before success reverses.

Quality

81%

Does it follow best practices?

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Passed

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Quality

Content

71%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.

The body is a compact, well-structured persuasion workflow with explicit verification, but it is more framework than substance — it tells Claude what kinds of examples and quotes to use without providing any actual historical examples or classical quotations to draw on.

Suggestions

Include 2–3 concrete cautionary examples (e.g., specific rulers or generals) and 1–2 positive retirement examples with the outcome, so Claude has ready material rather than having to source it.

Provide 1–2 actual classical quotes or proverbs (beyond the single sun/moon line) that the skill recommends using, with their source.

Add a brief template or phrasing for step 7 ('Propose the graceful exit') so the honorable-retirement path is concrete rather than left to Claude to construct.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Conciseness	The body is largely efficient with brief, non-padded steps and no over-explanation of concepts Claude already knows; the opening line ('A method for persuading powerful figures by systematically analyzing historical examples') lightly repeats the description and could be trimmed.	4 / 5
Actionability	The eight steps give a followable framework, but the guidance stays abstract — it instructs to 'cite historical figures' and 'quote authoritative sources' without supplying any concrete figures, classical texts, or quote templates that would make it immediately executable.	3 / 5
Workflow Clarity	Steps are clearly sequenced 1–8 and a dedicated Verification section provides explicit checkpoints; it stops short of 5 only because there are no error-recovery feedback loops, though the task is non-destructive so this is a minor gap.	4 / 5
Progressive Disclosure	The skill is under 50 lines with no external references needed, and content is well-organized into clearly headed sections (Steps, Key Principle, Expected Outcomes, Verification), satisfying the simple-skill exception for a top score.	5 / 5
	Total	16 / 20 Passed

Description

82%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.

The description is well-constructed: it pairs a concrete 'Use when' trigger with a clear statement of method, uses third person, and occupies a distinct niche. Its only gap is specificity, where the enumerated actions are fewer than the body actually supports.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Specificity	The description names the domain ('advising a powerful figure to change course or retire gracefully') and one to two concrete actions ('Systematically presents cautionary and positive historical examples', 'illustrate the wisdom of timely withdrawal'), but the action set is not comprehensive — it does not enumerate the analytical or quotation steps found in the body.	3 / 5
Completeness	It explicitly answers both 'what' (presents historical examples to illustrate the wisdom of timely withdrawal before success reverses) and 'when' via a clear 'Use when advising a powerful figure to change course or retire gracefully' trigger clause.	5 / 5
Trigger Term Quality	It includes natural user-facing phrases ('advising a powerful figure', 'change course', 'retire gracefully') that a user might actually say, though a few common synonyms ('persuade', 'convince to step down', 'honorable exit') are absent.	4 / 5
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk	The niche — persuasion of powerful figures via historical precedent for graceful retirement — is highly specific with distinct triggers and minimal overlap risk with other skills.	5 / 5
	Total	17 / 20 Passed

Validation

100%

Warnings & errors only

Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.

Validation — 16 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

No warnings or errors.

Repository: baojie/shiji-kb
Path: kg/ontology/ontology-v1/skus/procedural/skill_177/SKILL.md
Commit: 6b836e3

Reviewed: 13 days ago

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