| name | improve-processes |
| description | Process quality methodology for the process-siren agent — use before or during Mermaid conversion when the source process shows ambiguity, missing decisions, undefined actors, vague conditions, or structural weakness. Provides triage sequence, excellence criteria, and an improvement framework drawn from Lean, Six Sigma, BPR, Design Thinking, Systems Thinking, and Theory of Constraints. Activates when source content is poorly structured enough that converting it as-is would encode wrong behavior for AI readers. |
Improve Processes
Process-siren's job is semantic fidelity. Faithful conversion of a flawed process encodes the flaws with false precision. Use this skill when the source process needs improvement before — or alongside — Mermaid conversion.
When to Apply
Apply before converting when the source shows ANY of:
- Abstract verbs with no concrete action ("handle", "manage", "ensure")
- Conditions that cannot be evaluated by an AI agent ("when appropriate", "if needed")
- Missing entry or exit conditions
- Undefined actors ("we", "the system", "someone")
- Steps that do not change state (pure description, no action)
- No feedback loop or error path
Frameworks (Reference Only)
These frameworks share one principle — a process must be deterministic, auditable, and actor-owned.
Lean (Ohno) — eliminate steps that produce no state change; apply 5 Whys to trace ambiguity to its root
Six Sigma / DMAIC (Smith) — Define outcome, Measure current state, Analyze gap, Improve, Control recurrence
BPR (Hammer) — radical question: "If we started from scratch, what would this look like?"
Design Thinking (IDEO/Brown) — Empathize with the agent executing the process; design for their decision points
Systems Thinking (Senge) — identify feedback loops and side effects before encoding structure
Theory of Constraints (Goldratt) — find the bottleneck step; simplify around it before adding branches
Antifragility (Taleb) — prefer processes that improve under stress over processes that merely tolerate it
Excellence Checklist
Before converting, verify the source process satisfies:
Triage Protocol
flowchart TD
Start(["Source process received"]) --> O{"Is the intended outcome<br>stated in one measurable sentence?"}
O -->|"No"| FixO["Rewrite outcome statement<br>before proceeding"]
O -->|"Yes"| A{"Is the actor named<br>for every step?"}
FixO --> A
A -->|"No — actor undefined"| FixA["Name actor per step;<br>ask user if ambiguous"]
A -->|"Yes"| B{"Do all steps change observable state?"}
FixA --> B
B -->|"No — some steps are pure description"| FixB["Remove or rewrite no-op steps<br>as concrete actions"]
B -->|"Yes"| C{"Are all decision conditions<br>evaluable without interpretation?"}
FixB --> C
C -->|"No — vague conditions remain"| FixC["Replace with observable facts:<br>exit code, file existence, string match"]
C -->|"Yes"| D{"Are entry and exit<br>conditions explicit?"}
FixC --> D
D -->|"No"| FixD["Add entry precondition<br>and exit terminal state"]
D -->|"Yes"| Convert(["Process is ready for Mermaid conversion"])
FixD --> Convert
Practical Improvement Framework
Apply in sequence when rebuilding a weak process:
flowchart TD
S1["1. Rewrite outcome as one measurable sentence"] --> S2
S2["2. Replace abstract verbs with concrete actions"] --> S3
S3["3. Add decision gates — If X, then Y"] --> S4
S4["4. Define inputs and outputs for each step"] --> S5
S5["5. Remove steps that do not change state"] --> S6
S6["6. Add at least one correct execution example"] --> S7
S7["7. Add at least one failure example"] --> S8
S8["8. Stress-test: what happens at each edge case?"] --> S9
S9["9. Time the walkthrough — can a novice follow in 5 minutes?"] --> S10
S10["10. Confirm auditable — can execution be traced after the fact?"] --> Done(["Improved process ready"])
SOURCE: Synthesized from user-provided source material (2026-02-26) drawing on Lean, Six Sigma/DMAIC, BPR, Design Thinking, Systems Thinking, Theory of Constraints, and process design literature including Deming, Drucker, Gawande (The Checklist Manifesto), Meadows (Thinking in Systems), Norman (The Design of Everyday Things), Allen (Getting Things Done), Clear (Atomic Habits), and Taleb.
