orca-council-feature-evaluation

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

1. User Value Advocate
2. Product Strategy Owner
3. Engineering Cost Realist
4. Support And Ops Impact Reviewer
5. 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.md
• templates/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.