053-design-simple-rules

Use when Java design, refactoring, or implementation tradeoffs should be evaluated with Kent Beck's simple design rules, including passes the tests, reveals intention, has no duplication, and has the fewest elements. This should trigger for requests such as Apply simple design rules; Review this design with Beck's rules; Choose between these refactoring options; Keep this Java design simple. Part of Plinth Toolkit

Quality

—

Does it follow best practices?

Impact

—

No eval scenarios have been run

Securityby

Passed

No known issues

Quality

Content

85%

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

A well-structured, actionable overview with a clear ordered workflow and clean one-level progressive disclosure. The main weakness is mild redundancy: trigger examples and the four-rule enumeration are each repeated across sections.

Suggestions

Remove or trim the 'When to use this skill' bullet list since those triggers already appear verbatim in the frontmatter description, keeping only any net-new triggers.

Consolidate the ordered four-rule list so it appears once (either in Constraints or Workflow) and cross-reference it from the other section rather than re-enumerating.

Consider one short worked example of evaluating two refactoring options against the ordered rules to make the final 'Compare Options and Report' step more concrete.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Conciseness	The body is compact and assumes Claude's Java competence, but the 'When to use this skill' list duplicates the description's triggers and the four rules are enumerated twice (Constraints and Workflow), so it could be tightened.	2 / 3
Actionability	For an instruction-only skill the guidance is concrete and specific — examine 'names, types, responsibilities, control flow, API shape', find 'repeated knowledge, policy, mappings', and report 'chosen option, tradeoffs, validation signal, and remaining risk' — with detailed material deferred to the reference.	3 / 3
Workflow Clarity	A clearly sequenced five-step workflow (Anchor Correctness → Reveal Intention → Reduce Duplication → Minimize Elements → Compare and Report) with an explicit priority guardrail that earlier rules must not be weakened by later ones.	3 / 3
Progressive Disclosure	SKILL.md is an overview pointing to a single one-level-deep reference (references/053-design-simple-rules.md) that exists and is clearly signaled via a 'MUST read' constraint and a markdown link, with no nested reference chains.	3 / 3
	Total	11 / 12 Passed

Description

100%

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 description with an explicit trigger clause, concrete named actions, natural trigger phrases, and a distinct niche. It follows the third-person voice and avoids fluff.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Specificity	Names concrete actions via the four named rules — 'passes the tests, reveals intention, has no duplication, and has the fewest elements' — rather than vague language, matching the multiple-specific-actions anchor.	3 / 3
Completeness	Explicit 'Use when...' clause states when to trigger, and the body of the description states what it does (evaluate Java design/refactoring tradeoffs with Beck's rules), clearly answering both what and when.	3 / 3
Trigger Term Quality	Lists natural phrases users would say — 'Apply simple design rules', 'Review this design with Beck's rules', 'Choose between these refactoring options', 'Keep this Java design simple' — giving good coverage of realistic triggers.	3 / 3
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk	The Java + Kent Beck simple design rules framing is a clear niche with distinct triggers unlikely to fire for unrelated skills.	3 / 3
	Total	12 / 12 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
Commit: aaee915

Reviewed: 1 day ago

Table of Contents

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