021-problem-framing

Use when a problem or issue needs explicit framing before deeper analysis begins — establishing the Problem statement, Current state, Desired state, Stakeholders, and Success criteria. This should trigger when an issue's Problem Framing point of view needs evaluation, or when a maintainer directly asks to frame a problem before root-cause analysis, design, or planning begins. Part of Plinth Toolkit

Quality

81%

Does it follow best practices?

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Securityby

Passed

No findings from the security scan

Quality

Content

78%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.

A well-organized, mostly lean instruction skill with a clear sequenced workflow, explicit MUST/MUST NOT constraints acting as validation, and clean one-level progressive disclosure to a real reference file. The main weakness is moderate redundancy across the 'What is covered', 'When to use', and 'Workflow' sections.

Suggestions

Collapse the overlap between 'What is covered in this Skill?', 'When to use this skill', and the 'Workflow' steps so each section adds distinct information rather than restating the five framing activities.

Tighten Workflow step 5 with an explicit output template (e.g., the five labeled fields) so the reported frame is unambiguous and copy-ready.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Conciseness	The body is lean and assumes Claude's competence with no padding or explanation of basic concepts, but the 'What is covered in this Skill?' list, 'When to use this skill' list, and 'Workflow' steps restate the same five framing activities, creating some redundant repetition.	4 / 5
Actionability	As an instruction-only interactive skill it provides concrete, specific guidance ('Strip out wording that already assumes a fix', 'describe the current state as observable facts', 'flag any field left open'), with only minor gaps in operational specificity.	4 / 5
Workflow Clarity	Five clearly sequenced steps move from reading the reference through separating problem from solution to reporting the frame, and the MUST/MUST NOT constraints plus 'flag any field left open' act as validation checkpoints; this is non-destructive so no cap applies, with only minor checkpoint gaps.	4 / 5
Progressive Disclosure	SKILL.md is a concise overview that points to a single, clearly signaled, one-level-deep reference (references/021-problem-framing.md, which exists) referenced consistently across the Constraints, Workflow, and Reference sections, with content appropriately split and easy to navigate.	5 / 5
	Total	17 / 20 Passed

Description

83%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.

A strong, well-structured description that clearly states what the skill does and when to trigger it, with concrete framing components and explicit trigger phrasing. Minor room to broaden trigger synonyms and sharpen action verbs beyond 'establishing'.

Suggestions

Add a few natural trigger synonyms (e.g., 'define the problem', 'clarify the problem statement') to broaden keyword coverage.

Vary action verbs beyond 'establishing' (e.g., 'draft', 'articulate', 'structure') to make the listed components read as concrete actions.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Specificity	The description names the domain (problem framing) and enumerates five concrete components it establishes — 'Problem statement, Current state, Desired state, Stakeholders, and Success criteria' — giving several specific outputs, though the only action verb is 'establishing', leaving minor coverage gaps versus a fully comprehensive action list.	4 / 5
Completeness	It explicitly answers both what ('establishing the Problem statement, Current state, Desired state, Stakeholders, and Success criteria') and when ('Use when a problem or issue needs explicit framing...', 'when a maintainer directly asks to frame a problem') with concrete trigger phrases.	5 / 5
Trigger Term Quality	It includes natural phrases a user would say — 'frame a problem', 'problem framing', 'before root-cause analysis, design, or planning' — giving good keyword coverage, though a few common synonyms or phrasings are absent.	4 / 5
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk	'Problem Framing' and 'Part of Plinth Toolkit' carve a clear niche with distinct triggers, but it explicitly feeds into '022-root-cause-analysis', creating minor overlap risk with that closely related skill.	4 / 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: jabrena/plinth
Path: skills/021-problem-framing/SKILL.md
Commit: f6dfc6f

Reviewed: about 1 hour ago

Table of Contents

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