| name | intuitive-interviewing |
| description | Use when conducting any interview-style flow with a user (building a spell, refining one, gathering requirements). Picks depth, filters questions by relevance, matches against known shapes, and detects mid-stream pivots. |
| kind | workflow |
| audience | anyone |
| ai-tools | any |
| complexity | guided |
| time | 5-15 min |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| source | bundled |
Intuitive Interviewing
What this does
Turns a 12-phase interview into a context-aware conversation. Detects what the user already said, picks the right depth, matches against known workflow shapes, drafts a strawman early, and pivots when scope shifts.
When to use
- Inside
building-a-spell (Stage 1)
- Inside
refining-a-spell (when capturing what changed)
- Anywhere a user-facing requirements interview happens
What you bring (Inputs)
A context dictionary from the calling skill, containing whatever was already extracted (from the user's trigger phrase + any prior turns).
What you get (Output)
A filled interview: every required frontmatter field has a value, every required body section has content, plus any kind-specific extras.
How it works (Steps)
This is a workflow with explicit stages and gates.
Stages
Stage A: Pick depth
Inspect the context dictionary. Pick depth as follows:
| If... | Use depth |
|---|
| User explicitly said "quick", "simple", "just" | Express |
| Context dictionary has 4+ extracted fields already | Express |
Kind is discipline | Deep (always) |
User is first-time (no $WIZARD_HOME content) | Standard |
| Otherwise | Standard |
Allow user override: "Tell me which depth you'd like (express / standard / deep)" — but only if depth was ambiguous.
Output handed to next stage: chosen depth.
Stage B: Match against workflow shapes
Read all shapes under skills/building-a-spell/workflow-shapes/. Score each by overlap of:
- Trigger keywords vs context dictionary's
name and description
- Output type vs context dictionary's
output
- Step count and shape
If top score >= 0.7, propose it as a strawman:
"This looks like a <shape-name>. Here's a draft. What would you change?"
If top score < 0.7, skip to Stage C.
Output handed to next stage: strawman draft (or none).
Stage C: Relevance-filtered question pass
Use the question pool at skills/building-a-spell/interview-questions.md. For each question in the depth's "Always ask" list:
- Is it already answered by context or strawman? Skip.
- Is it answered by inference from a related answer? Confirm in passing, don't ask separately.
- Otherwise, ask it.
For "Conditionally ask" questions, ask only when the trigger condition fires.
For "Skip" questions, never ask in this depth.
Hard rule: Never ask the user a question whose answer is already in the conversation. This is the #1 reason interviews feel rote.
Output handed to next stage: a complete interview record.
Stage D: Detect mid-stream pivot
After every user response, check:
| Pivot signal | Action |
|---|
| User says "actually let's also do X" | Likely two spells — split now |
| User answers in a way that contradicts an earlier extraction | Pause, confirm, update context |
| User shifts audience ("oh, this would also be for my whole team") | Re-route via Stage A with new audience |
| User shifts kind (mentions a rule when describing content) | Confirm: "This sounds like a discipline kind. Want to switch?" |
Output handed to next stage: optionally re-routed flow.
Stage E: Confirm and hand back
Show the user the complete interview record, ask "anything to change?", then hand back to the caller.
Checkpoints
Pass each stage gate only when:
- After A: depth is set
- After B: strawman either accepted-with-deltas or explicitly skipped
- After C: every required field has a value
- After D: no unresolved pivot signals
- After E: user confirmed (or explicitly declined to confirm)
Loop-back conditions
Return to Stage A when:
- A pivot in Stage D changes the kind or depth significantly
- The strawman in Stage B was wrong shape — re-run Stage B with the corrected output type
The Batch Iron Law (Second Iron Law)
When the calling skill is building multiple spells in one session, complete one spell end-to-end (interview → strawman → try-it → save) before starting the next interview. The interview for spell N+1 cannot start until spell N has reached "saved" state.
Forbidden excuses
| If you think... | Reality |
|---|
| "I'll batch the interviews and test them all at the end" | Interviews need test feedback to refine. Sequence them. |
| "They share context so I can save tokens" | Token savings are illusory; quality cost is real. |
| "Let me draft all three first, then iterate" | Drafting in batch encourages copy-paste defects. |
All forbidden excuses get the same response: Finish this one through save. Then start the next.
Quality bar
The interview is good enough when:
- Every required frontmatter field is filled
- Every required body section has content
- The user has not been asked a question whose answer they already gave
- Strawman was offered if any shape matched at 0.7+
- Mid-stream pivots, if any, were named explicitly and the user agreed to the new direction
Variations
- Re-interview after refine: skip Stage B (no strawman); start at Stage C with the existing skill as base context.
- Headless mode: when called by another skill (not user-facing), all stages run silently from a structured input.
Example
Context dictionary on entry:
{name: "preparing-for-a-meeting", kind: "workflow",
audience: "knowledge-worker", complexity: "guided"}
- Stage A: Picks Standard. Two extracted fields, knowledge-worker audience.
- Stage B: Workflow-shape match:
pre-meeting-prep at 0.85. Strawman shown.
- Stage C: Asks 3 questions (the strawman covered the rest).
- Stage D: User adds "and also for 1:1s" mid-flow. Confirmed: still one spell; widen scope of
When to use.
- Stage E: Confirmed. Handed back to caller.
Total interview: 4 messages. Felt like a chat, not a form.
