Conciseness

Individual sections are dense and free of beginner-concept padding, but the same instructions are restated many times: "one question at a time" appears in six places, TRIZ-lite conditions in five, and the whole workflow is articulated four times (Scenes, Transitions, Canonical workflow path, Execution Phases). This fits "mostly efficient but... could be tightened"; it stops short of 2 because each restatement is compact and adds guardrail/pitfall nuance rather than fluffy explanation.

Actionability

Concrete, executable specifics are given for an instruction-only skill: exact paths ("docs/decisions/{NNN}-{name}.md", "docs/decisions/index.md", ".agents/results/"), a named tool ("brainstorm.option-selection" with matching "--instance" verification), prose-brief format (scenario, mechanism, residual risk, effort), and tiered issue resolution. It is not 5 because no worked example of a prose brief or design section is shown and the option-recording commands are deferred elsewhere ("workflow Step 3 owns the commands").

Workflow Clarity

The process is clearly sequenced (Entry, Scenes 1-5, numbered Execution Phases 1-7) with explicit validation checkpoints and feedback loops: mandatory blind review with Tier 1 resolution before save, section-by-section approval gates, "never infer approval from silence", and a dedicated Failure-and-recovery section (unanswered questions, scope expansion, collapsed alternatives). This matches the top anchor's explicit validation, error-recovery loops, and checklist-like Common Pitfalls; 4 would require missing checkpoints, which is not the case.

Progressive Disclosure

Shared detail is properly pushed to one-level-deep references that are clearly signaled both inline and in a dedicated References section, and the four referenced references/_shared/core/ files exist in the bundle. It is not 5 because "resources/triz-lite.md" is referenced about six times yet does not exist in the bundle (no resources/ directory), a real navigation gap; it stays above 3 because references are clearly signaled and the inline SKILL.md content is appropriate for an orchestration skill.

Specificity

"Explore goals, constraints, and alternative approaches before choosing a design" lists several distinct actions (explore goals, explore constraints, compare alternatives, choose a design) with only minor coverage gaps. It is not a 5 because "explore" is more abstract than fully concrete verbs and the description omits key outputs (e.g., the approved design document); it exceeds 3 because more than 1-2 concrete actions are named.

Completeness

Both parts are explicitly present: "Explore goals, constraints, and alternative approaches before choosing a design" (what) and "Use when the user requests ideation or design exploration" (when). It is not 5 because the 'when' clause covers only two trigger conditions rather than concrete trigger phrase variety, and the 'what' side does not mention the produced design artifact; it is above 3 because both what and when are stated explicitly.

Trigger Term Quality

The only natural trigger phrases are "ideation" and "design exploration", yet the most common user phrasings — "brainstorm", "I have an idea", "compare approaches" — are absent from the description. This matches "some relevant keywords but missing common variations or synonyms"; it falls short of 4 because the single most natural trigger word for this skill (brainstorm) is missing.

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

The pre-design framing ("before choosing a design") plus the ideation trigger carves a mostly distinct niche with only minor overlap risk against closely related planning/design skills. It is not 5 because broad words like "design" and "explore" could still collide with implementation-design or research skills; it is well above 3 since the ideation/pre-planning positioning is an explicit differentiator.