Structured clarification before decisions. Use when user is in PLANNING mode, explicitly asks to plan or discuss, or when agent faces choices requiring user input. Ensures agent asks questions instead of making autonomous decisions when multiple valid approaches exist or context is missing.
76
76%
Does it follow best practices?
Impact
56%
1.12xAverage score across 3 eval scenarios
Passed
No known issues
Optimize this skill with Tessl
npx tessl skill review --optimize ./skills/deep-plan/SKILL.mdQuality
Discovery
67%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 adequately communicates both what the skill does and when to use it, earning strong marks on completeness. However, it lacks specific concrete actions (what does 'structured clarification' actually look like?) and relies on some internal jargon ('PLANNING mode') rather than natural user language. The concept is somewhat generic and could benefit from sharper differentiation.
Suggestions
Add specific concrete actions like 'presents numbered options, identifies missing context, summarizes tradeoffs between approaches' to replace the vague 'structured clarification'.
Replace or supplement 'PLANNING mode' jargon with natural user phrases like 'help me decide', 'what approach should I take', 'before we start', or 'let's discuss options'.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | The description names the domain ('structured clarification before decisions') and describes the general action ('asks questions instead of making autonomous decisions'), but lacks specific concrete actions like 'presents numbered options', 'creates decision matrices', or 'summarizes tradeoffs'. | 2 / 3 |
Completeness | Clearly answers both 'what' (ensures agent asks questions instead of making autonomous decisions when multiple valid approaches exist or context is missing) and 'when' (user is in PLANNING mode, explicitly asks to plan or discuss, or when agent faces choices requiring user input) with explicit trigger conditions. | 3 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Includes some relevant trigger terms like 'planning mode', 'plan', 'discuss', and 'choices requiring user input', but misses natural user phrases like 'what should I do', 'help me decide', 'options', 'tradeoffs', or 'before we start'. 'PLANNING mode' feels like internal jargon rather than a natural user term. | 2 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | The concept of 'asking clarifying questions before decisions' is somewhat generic and could overlap with general conversation management or task planning skills. However, the specific framing around 'structured clarification' and 'autonomous decisions' provides some distinctiveness. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 9 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
85%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-structured behavioral skill that provides clear, actionable guidance for when and how Claude should seek clarification before making decisions. Its strengths are the concrete question format templates, priority categorization system, and explicit feedback loops. Minor verbosity in some sections (activation criteria, key principles restating earlier content) prevents a perfect conciseness score.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | The skill is mostly efficient but includes some unnecessary elaboration. Phrases like 'Timeline/deadline constraints?' and 'Team size and experience level?' are reasonable, but the overall document could be tightened—e.g., the 'When NOT to Activate' section and some of the principle restatements are somewhat redundant with the process steps themselves. | 2 / 3 |
Actionability | The skill provides concrete, specific guidance with exact question formats, markdown templates, priority emoji labels, confidence level vocabulary, and explicit behavioral rules (e.g., 'max 5-7 questions per message', 'Do NOT dump all questions at once'). The guidance is directly executable by Claude without ambiguity. | 3 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | The 7-step process is clearly sequenced with explicit phases, priority categorization (🔴🟡🟢), a mid-execution re-check step that acts as a feedback loop, and clear handling of unanswered questions. The workflow covers error recovery (step 6) and validation of consent (step 5) before proceeding. | 3 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | For a standalone skill with no bundle files, the content is well-organized with clear section headers, numbered steps, and logical grouping. The skill itself teaches progressive disclosure as a principle and practices it in its own structure—moving from activation triggers to process to principles. No external references are needed for this type of behavioral/process skill. | 3 / 3 |
Total | 11 / 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.
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Table of Contents
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