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Drill to root cause by asking why repeatedly
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Based on SOC occupation classification
Save current session state mid-session — faster than /whats-next, designed for crash recovery
Apply engineering principles to code or design — DRY, KISS, SRP, YAGNI, phased delivery
Surface assumptions collaboratively before proceeding — beginner's mind, invoked depth
Analyze the current conversation and create a handoff document for continuing this work in a fresh context
Gather requirements through adaptive questioning before executing any task
Evaluate decisions across three time horizons
| name | consider-5-whys |
| description | Drill to root cause by asking why repeatedly |
| argument-hint | [problem or leave blank for current context] |
Keep asking "why" until you hit the root cause, not just symptoms.
1. State the problem clearly 2. Ask "Why does this happen?" - Answer 1 3. Ask "Why?" about Answer 1 - Answer 2 4. Ask "Why?" about Answer 2 - Answer 3 5. Continue until you hit a root cause (usually 5 iterations, sometimes fewer) 6. Identify actionable intervention at the root<output_format> Problem: [clear statement]
Why 1: [surface cause] Why 2: [deeper cause] Why 3: [even deeper] Why 4: [approaching root] Why 5: [root cause]
Root Cause: [the actual thing to fix]
Intervention: [specific action at the root level] </output_format>
<success_criteria>
