Interview Me

Philosophy

Ask the smallest useful question, reduce uncertainty quickly, and preserve an explicit approval boundary.

When To Use

• One or two decisions would materially change the work.
• The user needs assumptions, tradeoffs, or approval gates clarified.
• A downstream planning or implementation skill needs a compact handoff.

Avoid

• Do not use when the request is already implementation-ready.
• Do not run a broad discovery workshop when one decision question will unblock the work.
• Do not prescribe implementation before unresolved decisions are closed or declared as assumptions.

Inputs

• User request and target repo or artifact.
• Evidence source such as files, diffs, issues, releases, or existing workflow state.
• Any safety, privacy, compliance, or approval constraints.

Outputs

• Schema-bound outputs include schema_version.
• Decision log with assumptions and constraints.
• Approval status.
• Compact handoff for the next skill.

Workflow

1. Ask one high-impact question with 3-5 choices and one recommended default.
2. Explain briefly why the answer matters.
3. Ask a second question only if a material blocker remains.
4. Maintain a compact decision and assumption log.
5. End with approved, needs-input, or blocked plus the next route.

Constraints

• Redact secrets and sensitive context by default.
• Do not ask broad exploratory questions without a decision payoff.
• Do not invent constraints or approval.
• Fail fast at the first missing input that would change the outcome.

Validation

• Run Plugin Eval and strict skill audit after editing this skill.
• Report exact validation commands and pass/fail outcomes.
• Fail fast: stop at the first failed gate, fix it, and rerun before continuing.

Anti-Patterns

• Do not use when the request is already implementation-ready.
• Do not run a broad discovery workshop when one decision question will unblock the work.
• Do not prescribe implementation before unresolved decisions are closed or declared as assumptions.

Examples

• "This request is fuzzy; ask the one question that changes the plan."
• "I have no success metric yet; help me decide what to ask."

Progressive Disclosure

• Archived full context: Infrastructure/references/deferred-skill-context/product-strategy-interview-me/.
• Load archived references only when the active workflow needs that exact detail.
• Keep the active path compact; do not remove important context for budget trimming.

See Also