interviewing

name	interviewing
description	Systematic questioning to clarify requirements, goals, and constraints. Use when there's ambiguity about what the user wants, hidden complexity needs uncovering, or you need to understand before proceeding. Triggers on unclear requirements, vague goals, or when other skills encounter fundamental ambiguity.
user-invocable	true
invocation-hint	<topic or area to explore>

Interviewing

When to Use

• Requirements or goals are ambiguous
• User isn't clear about what they want
• Hidden complexity might derail implementation
• Another skill encounters fundamental ambiguity

Skip when requirements are already clear or user wants to proceed without clarification.

Core Methodology

Ask Non-Obvious Questions

Probe deeper than surface-level:

• Why: What problem does this solve? Why now?
• Constraints: What would make this unacceptable? What can't change?
• Failure modes: What's the worst case? What happens when X fails?
• Success: How will you know this worked? What does "done" look like?
• Tradeoffs: What are you willing to give up? Minimum viable version?
• Assumptions: You mentioned X, but what about Y? Is that always true?

Avoid

• Restatements of what's already said
• Yes/no confirmations
• Generic questions that apply to anything
• Leading questions

Follow the Thread

Dig deeper when answers reveal complexity. Don't jump topics when current one has unexplored depth.

Batch Questions

Use AskUserQuestion with questions array for 2-4 related questions exploring different angles of the same area.

Saturation

Stop when:

• Answers stop revealing new information
• You could explain requirements to someone else
• User expresses readiness to proceed

Output

Summarize what you've learned:

**Clarified Requirements:**
- **Goal**: [specific goal]
- **Constraints**: [hard limits]
- **Success criteria**: [how we'll know it worked]
- **Key tradeoffs**: [prioritizing vs deprioritizing]
- **Open questions**: [if any]

Integration

Skill	When to use interviewing first
Brainstorming	User unclear about what they want (not just how)
Technical Planning	Requirements too vague to plan
Debugging	Problem description unclear
Blog Writing	Topic or purpose unclear

For writing, also ask: What's the core message? Who's the audience? What triggered this?

Examples

See reference/examples.md for project and writing interview flows.