| name | frame-situation |
| description | Use when holding a raw signal (market observation, OKR gap, user pain pattern, engineering finding, competitive signal) at initiative or capability level — turning it into a typed finding, a Wardley capability maturity assessment, and an anchor into the PE six-step shaping sequence. Triggers on "frame this situation", "what do we do with this signal", "is this an opportunity or a risk", "where should we start", "map this to the shaping sequence". Do NOT use for a feature-scoped request (use `frame-intent`), testing an assumption (use `de-risk-intent`), or breaking down a shaped intent (use `decompose-intent`). |
Skill: frame-situation
Classify a raw signal, assess relevant capability maturities, and anchor the
situation to the PE shaping sequence — so the team knows what kind of thing
this is and where to enter the six-step loop before any shaping work begins.
When to invoke
Confirm the signal is initiative or capability level (affects a whole
product area or initiative). If it is clearly a single screen or endpoint,
name the altitude mismatch and redirect: "This looks feature-scoped;
frame-intent is the right entry point."
If altitude is genuinely ambiguous, ask — never force one level.
If the signal is too thin to classify, elicit more context first.
Procedure
1. Intake. Read the signal. Confirm altitude in one sentence; proceed once confirmed.
2. Classify. Choose: opportunity | risk | gap | threat |
emergent-capability. State type + one-line rationale. If underdetermined,
name the ambiguity and elicit — do not force a type.
3. Wardley maturity. Identify up to three implicated capability areas.
For each, place on the four stages — Genesis (novel/uncertain; explore);
Custom-built (hand-crafted; invest to differentiate); Product (widely
available; buy/adopt over build); Commodity (utility; competing here wastes
energy) — with evidence and strategic implication. Mark unplaceable capabilities
as residual assumptions. When zero can be placed, emit an all-residual table.
4. Recommend entry point. PE six-step sequence: frame-situation →
identify-opportunities → diverge-solutions → validate → place-bet →
map-capabilities. Recommend where to enter:
- Unknown problem → step 2 (
identify-opportunities, default).
- Known problem, unknown options → step 3 (
diverge-solutions).
- Known options, need committed bet → step 5 (
place-bet).
State the entry point and one-sentence rationale so the PE can override.
5. Emit situation-framing.md. Resolve output_dir via the three-tier
config procedure (repo-scope agentbundle-layout.toml [product] → user-scope
→ two-branch elicitation). Realpath-expand; reject .. and symlinks that exit
the root; surface the resolved path before writing. Write to
<output_dir>/shaping/<slug>/situation-framing.md.
Step 2 readiness: if identify-opportunities is absent from available
skills, note this under a "Step 2 readiness" section and describe what step 2
provides. Do not block artifact emission. Apply the same degrade if
diverge-solutions or place-bet is the recommended entry and is also absent
— those skills are not yet shipped.
Artifact shape: frontmatter (type: situation-framing, slug, signal, date,
finding-type, shaping-entry), then sections — Signal, Finding, Wardley
Assessment table, Recommended Entry Point, Step 2 readiness (when absent),
Suggested workspace.toml entry (TOML snippet + direction to add via queue-add
or manually).
6. Suggest workspace.toml entry. Print the {slug = "<slug>", type = "shape"}
TOML snippet. Direct the user to add it to [ini-NNN.shaping_queue] backlog.
Do not write to workspace.toml.
Anti-patterns to refuse
- Writing to
workspace.toml or a literal hardcoded path.
- Producing a brief (that is
place-bet + author-brief's job).
- Forcing a Wardley stage when evidence is insufficient — name it as a residual
assumption instead.
- Forcing an altitude when it is genuinely ambiguous — ask instead.
