grilling
vinvcn/mattpocock-skills-zh-cn
Systematically pressure-test plans, decisions, or ideas through structured questioning.
What is grilling?
The grilling skill conducts iterative interviews to build shared understanding by mapping decisions into a design tree. It asks frontier questions (those whose prerequisites are settled) in rounds, incorporating user answers to unlock dependent questions, ensuring no assumptions are left unexamined.
- Maps decisions into a design tree structure with dependencies
- Identifies and questions the frontier—decisions ready to explore given settled prerequisites
- Conducts interviews in numbered rounds with recommended answers for each question
- Delegates fact-finding to sub-agents rather than asking users for information it can retrieve
- Continues until all branches are explored and shared understanding is confirmed
How to install grilling
npx skills add https://github.com/vinvcn/mattpocock-skills-zh-cn --skill grillingHow to use grilling
- 1.Describe your plan, decision, or idea you want to pressure-test
- 2.The skill will map it into a decision tree and identify frontier questions
- 3.Answer the numbered questions in each round with your reasoning
- 4.Review how your answers reshape the tree and unlock new questions
- 5.Continue through rounds until the frontier is empty and understanding is confirmed
Use cases
- Stress-testing a business plan or product strategy before execution
- Validating architectural decisions in a software design before implementation
- Exploring contingencies and dependencies in a project plan
- Pressure-testing a personal decision (career move, investment, etc.) to surface hidden assumptions
- Clarifying requirements and constraints for a complex initiative
- Product managers and strategists planning initiatives
- Software architects designing systems
- Project leads managing complex deliverables
- Individuals making high-stakes personal or professional decisions
- Teams seeking to align on unstated assumptions
grilling FAQ
A frontier question is one whose prerequisites (dependencies) are already settled. These are the questions you can answer now without needing to know the answers to other unsettled questions first.
The skill delegates fact-finding (filesystem, tools, environment data) to sub-agents so it can keep interviewing you on decisions without blocking on information it can retrieve itself. This keeps the conversation focused on your choices.
The session ends when the frontier is empty—every branch of the decision tree has been explored and no assumptions remain unexamined. You confirm shared understanding before any action is taken.
Questions are ordered by dependency. If a question's prerequisites aren't settled, it belongs to a later round. Answer frontier questions first; dependent questions will appear once their prerequisites are resolved.
That signals a gap in your planning. The skill will help you identify what information or decision you need before you can move forward confidently.
Full instructions (SKILL.md)
Source of truth, from vinvcn/mattpocock-skills-zh-cn.
name: grilling description: 围绕计划、decision 或 idea 持续追问用户。适用于用户想对自己的思路做压力测试，或使用任何 “grill” 触发措辞时。
持续访谈用户，直到达成共同理解。把这件事映射成一棵 design tree：每个 decision 都分支到挂在它下面的那些 decisions。
按 rounds 逐轮处理这棵树。frontier 是那些 prerequisites 已经敲定的 decisions——也就是你现在就可以问、无需猜测还没听到的答案的那些问题。在一轮里问完整条 frontier：给每个问题编号并附上你的推荐答案。然后等用户回答，再进入下一轮。
每一轮的格式如下:
❓ **Q1** - **<问题标题>**：<问题正文，可能有多段，包括多个选项>
➡️ <你的推荐答案>
---
❓ **Q2** - **<问题标题>**：<问题正文，可能有多段，包括多个选项>
➡️ <你的推荐答案>
每一轮用户给出的回答都会重塑这棵树——敲定的 decisions 会把 frontier 向外推，并解锁依赖它们的问题。重新计算 frontier，然后问下一轮。其答案依赖本轮中另一个仍未解决的问题，属于 更晚的 一轮，而不是本轮。
寻找 facts 是你的工作，绝不是用户的。当一个 frontier 问题需要来自 environment（filesystem、tools 等）的 fact 时，派一个 sub-agent 去查——不要问用户任何你自己能查到的东西。不要被它阻塞：一次正在进行的探索是一个尚未敲定的 prerequisite，所以只有它下游的问题才需要等 sub-agent 回报——现在先问 frontier 的其余部分。decisions 属于用户——逐个交给他，并等待。
当 frontier 为空时，会话才算结束：design tree 的每个分支都访问过，没有留下任何被默默假设的东西。在用户确认我们已经达成共同理解之前，不要采取行动。
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