| name | orca-council-feature-evaluation |
| description | Use a five-subagent council to decide whether a proposed feature deserves roadmap, spec, or build work. |
ORCA Feature Evaluation Council
What This Skill Is
A specialized council for evaluating whether a new feature should be built, delayed, narrowed, or rejected.
It is for feature judgment before implementation, not for writing the implementation plan itself.
Trigger
Use when the user wants to know:
- should we add this feature
- is this the right version of the feature
- does the user value justify the complexity
- is there a smaller wedge worth shipping first
Five Council Roles
- User Value Advocate
- Product Strategy Owner
- Engineering Cost Realist
- Support And Ops Impact Reviewer
- Skeptical Risk Reviewer
Stage-1 Expectations
Each worker should answer:
- what user problem the feature actually solves
- whether the feature changes outcomes materially
- what complexity or maintenance burden it adds
- whether a narrower first version would be better
- why the feature should be built now, later, or never
Stage-3 Synthesis Must Produce
- recommendation:
- build now
- narrow and test
- defer
- reject
- strongest user-value case
- strongest cost or complexity objection
- minimal valuable version if the feature survives
- what evidence would change the decision
Required Outputs
Use:
templates/council-synthesis.mdtemplates/opportunity-memo.md when the feature is strategic enough to justify it- bridge to
orca-spec only if the council says the feature earned product work
Failure Modes
- treating internal excitement as user demand
- ignoring maintenance or support burden
- approving a bloated first version
- using the council after the build decision was already made
Relationship To Other ORCA Framework Skills And Commands
Pairs with orca-research, orca-spec, orca-plan, orca-review, and orca-business-ideation when the feature is really a product-direction decision.
