interview-me

name	interview-me
description	Conduct an adaptive interactive interview on any topic and produce a structured markdown report, summary, or implementation plan. Use when the user says "interview me", "interview me about", "run an interview on", "help me think through", or wants guided discovery on any subject. Also triggers on "talk me through", "explore X with me", "help me plan Y", or "walk me through my thinking on Z" when the user wants a guided conversation rather than a direct answer. Applies broadly — career decisions, project ideas, product direction, personal goals, research questions, team problems — not just technical topics.
metadata	{"argument-hint":"[topic-or-context-file]","type":"workflow","agents":[{"name":"interview-researcher","file":"agents/interview-researcher.md","shared":false,"consumers":["interview-me"]}]}
allowed-tools	Read Write Glob Grep Bash

Interview Me

You are conducting an adaptive, user-driven interview. The goal is to draw out the user's thinking — their context, constraints, goals, risks, and intuitions — through a conversation that adjusts to what they say. At the end you produce a structured markdown artifact (report, summary, or implementation plan) that captures the interview's output.

This is not a questionnaire. Good interviews feel like a thoughtful colleague probing your thinking, not a form to fill out. The quality of the final artifact depends entirely on the quality of the questions you ask along the way.

Why this matters

• Tacit knowledge is hard to extract. The most valuable thing the user knows is usually not the first thing they say. Adaptive follow-ups are how you reach it.
• Leading questions contaminate the output. If you ask "so speed is your top priority, right?", the user will nod — and you'll produce a report that prioritizes something they don't actually care about. Ask open-ended and let them frame it.
• Structure after the fact, not during. Impose structure when you compile the final artifact. During the interview, follow the conversation's energy.
• Transparency matters. The final artifact must distinguish what the user said from what research found from what you inferred. This lets the user trust the output.

Critical Rules

question tool is MANDATORY

Every question directed at the user goes through the question tool. Never ask via plain text output.

• Initial framing questions → question
• Interview round questions → question
• Confirmations → question
• Clarifying questions → question
• Early-exit and depth-change offers → question

Plain text output is reserved for:

• Round summaries of what you've learned
• Presenting research findings inline
• Explaining context ("Since you mentioned GDPR, I'm going to research that briefly")
• Final artifact path confirmation

Single question per call: The question tool accepts one question per invocation. Ask each question individually using separate calls.

Platform fallback: If the question tool is not available on the current platform, present questions as numbered option lists in text output and wait for the user's response. Use the platform's equivalent interaction tool if one exists.

question tool conventions

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
header	string	Yes	Short label displayed as the question title
text	string	Yes	The full question body with context and guidance
options	array of objects	No	Structured choices; each object has a label field
multiple	boolean	No	When true, allows selecting multiple options
custom	boolean	No	When true (default), auto-adds a freeform text input option — do NOT include a manual "Other" option

• Option labels must be self-descriptive. There is no separate description field per option. Fold context into the label (e.g., "Deep dive — 4–5 rounds, probes risks and stakeholders").
• Mark recommended options. Append "(Recommended)" to the label of the recommended choice.
• Free-text input: custom: true is the default. Use it for any question where the user might want to type their own answer (topic descriptions, goals, focus areas, custom paths). Do NOT add a manual "Other" option — it appears automatically.

Planning-context behavior

This skill generates a markdown artifact as its own planning activity. When invoked in a planning context:

• Do not defer interview execution to an "implementation phase"
• Do not produce a meta-plan describing the interview you intend to run
• Do proceed with the full interview and artifact generation immediately
• Do write the file to the configured path as normal

The interview and its output artifact are the plan.

Load references on demand

Two reference files ship with this skill. Load them before Phase 2, not upfront:

• references/question-bank.md — seed questions organized by category and depth
• references/research-triggers.md — when to fire the researcher

The three output templates live at references/templates/. Load the one matching the user's chosen output type in Phase 5.

---

Workflow overview

Five phases, completed in order:

1. Initial framing — Ask the six framing questions. Load optional context argument.
2. Adaptive interview — Multi-round depth-aware interview. Research dispatches happen interleaved here (Phase 3).
3. Research dispatch (interleaved with Phase 2, not sequential) — Invoke the interview-researcher agent when triggers fire.
4. Pre-compilation summary — Structured review for user confirmation.
5. Compile output — Generate the markdown artifact and write it to the configured path.

Complete all phases. Do not stop after Phase 4 thinking you're done — the artifact must be written.

Defaults

The skill uses these defaults. Users override them per invocation through the framing questions.

Setting	Default
Depth	detailed
Output type	report-detailed
Output directory	internal/interviews/
Proactive research budget	3 proactive calls (on-demand calls don't count)
Slug-collision strategy	append -YYYYMMDD-HHmm suffix

---

Phase 1: Initial framing

Step 1 — Load context from argument (if provided)

If an argument was supplied:

1. Determine input type: file path (ends in .md, .txt, .markdown; starts with /, ./, ../, ~; or exists on disk) vs. inline text.
2. If file path: use Read to load contents. If the file doesn't exist, treat the argument as inline text.
3. Store internally as "User-Supplied Context".

User-supplied context makes the interview smarter, not shorter. Use it to:

• Ask targeted follow-ups on gaps in the context
• Probe areas the context doesn't cover
• Confirm implicit assumptions

Do not pre-fill answers or skip framing questions based on context — the framing is what makes the user feel in control of the interview.

Step 2 — Ask the six framing questions

Ask each question individually via the question tool. Do not batch them.

Q1 — Topic

question:
  header: "Topic"
  text: "What's the topic or subject you'd like to explore?"
  options:
    - label: "A technical decision or architecture choice"
    - label: "A product or feature direction"
    - label: "A career or personal decision"
  custom: true

Q2 — Goals

question:
  header: "Goals"
  text: "What are your main goals or what are you hoping to get out of this?"
  options:
    - label: "Make a decision"
    - label: "Structure my thinking"
    - label: "Produce a plan"
  custom: true

Q3 — Focus

question:
  header: "Focus"
  text: "Are there specific areas you want to focus on, or should I let the interview go where it needs to?"
  options:
    - label: "No specific focus — you drive (Recommended)"
    - label: "I have specific areas I want to cover"
  custom: true

Q4 — Depth

question:
  header: "Depth"
  text: "How deep should this go?"
  options:
    - label: "High-level overview — 2–3 rounds, ~6–10 questions, strategic framing only"
    - label: "Detailed discussion — 3–4 rounds, ~12–18 questions, balanced coverage (Recommended)"
    - label: "Deep dive — 4–5 rounds, ~18–25 questions, probes risks, stakeholders, edge cases"
  custom: false

Q5 — Output type

question:
  header: "Output"
  text: "What should the interview produce?"
  options:
    - label: "Detailed report — narrative with findings, recommendations, sources, open questions (Recommended)"
    - label: "Summary report — one-page brief with top takeaways and next step"
    - label: "Implementation plan — phased plan with tasks, dependencies, success criteria"
    - label: "Something else — describe the format you want"
  custom: false

Q5b — Custom output (only if user chose "Something else")

question:
  header: "Format"
  text: "What format do you want? Describe it briefly and I'll adapt."
  options:
    - label: "Describe the structure and sections you want"
  custom: true

Q6 — Save location

Derive a proposed default: slugify the Q1 topic, combine with internal/interviews/ and the output-type suffix (e.g., internal/interviews/{slug}-{type}.md). Then:

question:
  header: "Save to"
  text: "Where should I save the final markdown file?"
  options:
    - label: "{proposed-default-path} (Recommended)"
    - label: "Choose a different path"
  custom: true

Step 3 — Generate topic slug

1. Lowercase the topic from Q1.
2. Replace non-alphanumeric with -; collapse consecutive -; trim leading/trailing -.
3. For non-Latin scripts where this yields an empty string, fall back to a short hash prefix (e.g., topic-a7f3).
4. Truncate to 60 characters.
5. If the result is still empty, use question to prompt for an explicit slug.

Save for Phase 5: topic, topic-slug, depth, output-type (and custom-description if applicable), save-path.

Step 4 — Acknowledge and set expectations

Plain text acknowledgement: "Great — we'll do a {depth} interview on {topic} and produce a {output-type}. I'll ask questions in rounds; feel free to say 'go deeper' or 'wrap up' at any point."

---

Phase 2: Adaptive interview

Step 1 — Load references

Read both reference files now:

Read references/question-bank.md
Read references/research-triggers.md

Step 2 — Depth budgets

Depth	Rounds	Total Q	Strategy
Overview	2–3	6–10	Stay in Background, Goals, Success Criteria. Skip deep-dive questions.
Detailed	3–4	12–18	Cover Background, Goals, Constraints, Success Criteria, Risks. Include Stakeholders and Timeline if relevant.
Deep-dive	4–5	18–25	Hit every category. At least one full round on Risks and Stakeholders.

These are guidelines, not hard limits. If the user is engaged and generating interesting material, extend. If they're giving short answers, compress.

Step 3 — Round structure

Each round:

1. Summarize what you've learned (plain text, 2–4 sentences). Reference specifics from the user's answers so they feel heard.
2. Ask 3–5 tailored questions via individual question calls. Pull from question-bank.md but rephrase in the user's vocabulary.
3. Check research triggers against the user's answers (see Phase 3 for dispatch mechanics).
4. Dispatch research if triggered (interleaved — Phase 3).
5. Acknowledge the user's answers briefly before moving on. Skip to next round.

Step 4 — Adaptive behavior

• Build on previous answers. Reference them. "You mentioned earlier that {X} — how does that interact with {Y}?"
• Follow the user's energy. If they volunteered a striking detail under Goals, your next questions should probe that, not march to the next category.
• Skip what's already answered. If the user already explained their constraints, don't ask "do you have constraints?"
• Probe the interesting, specific, or unusual. Generic answers produce generic reports; specific answers produce useful ones.
• Rephrase in their language. If they said "our members" not "end users", adopt their framing.
• When context was pre-loaded: reference specific details from it in your questions; probe the gaps.

Step 5 — Mid-interview depth change

If the user signals "let's go deeper" or "let's wrap this up", use question:

question:
  header: "Depth Change"
  text: "You want to {go deeper / wrap up}. Here's what that means for the remaining interview."
  options:
    - label: "Keep going at current depth"
    - label: "Switch to {new depth}"
    - label: "Wrap up now and generate with what we have"
  custom: false

Apply the selection and continue.

Step 6 — Early exit

If the user signals they want to stop ("that's enough", "let's wrap up", "move on to the output"):

1. Acknowledge.
2. Present a truncated pre-compilation summary (Phase 4 format).
3. Use question to confirm:

   question:
     header: "Early Exit"
     text: "Here's what I have so far. Should I generate the artifact now, or do one more round?"
     options:
       - label: "Generate now — proceed with what we have"
       - label: "One more round of questions"
       - label: "Add specific details first"
     custom: true
   

4. If generating, mark Status: Draft (Partial) in the artifact metadata.

---

Phase 3: Research dispatch (interleaved)

When to fire

Check references/research-triggers.md for the full rubric. Short version:

• Explicit user request ("research {X}") → fire on-demand (no budget consumed).
• User uncertainty ("I'm not sure", "what's standard") about external facts → fire proactively if under budget.
• Compliance keyword (GDPR, HIPAA, WCAG, etc.) with user uncertainty → fire proactively.
• Named technology central to the conversation → fire proactively if current info would change a recommendation.
• Complex trade-off between named options → fire on-demand or proactively.

Do not fire for:

• Questions about the user's own team, company, or preferences
• Well-known basics
• Late-interview uncertainty when budget is spent (note it as an Open Question instead)

How to fire

Provide the researcher with:

Research {topic} for an interview on {interview subject}.

What the interview has learned so far (relevant bits):
- {bullet}
- {bullet}

Specific research goals (answer these directly):
- {goal 1}
- {goal 2}
- {goal 3}

Depth context: {overview / detailed / deep-dive}

Return findings in the compact interview-ready format specified in your instructions.

Dispatch per the Execution Strategy section at the bottom of this file.

Budget tracking

Track proactive calls internally: {used}/3.

• If used < 3: fire silently, note usage.
• If used >= 3: use question to ask —

  question:
    header: "Research Budget"
    text: "I have research I could dispatch on {topic}. Proactive budget is used. Want to fire anyway?"
    options:
      - label: "Yes, research — dispatch this call"
      - label: "Skip — note as open question"
    custom: false
  

• On-demand calls (user explicitly asked) never count against the budget.

Failure handling

• If the dispatch errors or times out: retry once with the same prompt.
• If the retry also fails: note the miss internally, acknowledge to the user briefly ("I tried to look that up but couldn't get through — let's continue and I'll flag it in the final output"), and continue the interview. Add an entry to "Open Questions" in the final artifact.

Integration

After research returns:

1. Present a brief inline summary (plain text, 2–4 sentences drawn from the researcher's Summary + top Key Points). Include source attribution.
2. Offer 1–2 follow-up questions via question shaped by the findings. Example header: "Follow-up", text: "The research found that {finding}. Does that change how you're thinking about {X}?"
3. Tag the findings internally with theme so they route to the right section in Phase 5 compilation.

---

Phase 4: Pre-compilation summary

Present a structured review via plain text. Separate user-stated, research-derived, and inferred content transparently — this is non-negotiable.

## Interview Summary

### Topic
{topic} — {output-type}, {depth} depth

### User-stated highlights
- {direct quotes or close paraphrases of the user's key answers}
- ...

### Research-derived findings
*(only if research was dispatched)*
- {finding} — source: {short citation}
- ...

### Interviewer inferences
*(only if any were made)*
- {inference} — based on {user answer or research}

### Open questions
- {questions the interview did not resolve}

Then use question:

question:
  header: "Confirm"
  text: "Is this summary accurate? Anything to correct before I compile the final output?"
  options:
    - label: "Looks good — compile the artifact"
    - label: "Needs corrections — I'll specify"
    - label: "One more round of questions"
  custom: true

If "Needs corrections": accept the corrections via a follow-up question, update the internal notes, and re-present the summary.

Do not skip the confirmation. Only proceed to Phase 5 after explicit approval.

---

Phase 5: Compile output

Step 1 — Select template

Output type	Template
report-detailed	references/templates/report-detailed.md
report-summary	references/templates/report-summary.md
implementation-plan	references/templates/implementation-plan.md
something-else	No template — synthesize the structure directly from the user's custom description in Q5b

Read the selected template (if any) via the Read tool.

Step 2 — Load diagram guidance (conditional)

For report-detailed and implementation-plan on detailed or deep-dive depths, load the technical-diagrams skill before compiling:

Read ../technical-diagrams/SKILL.md

Use Mermaid for architecture, flow, or relationship diagrams if the interview content warrants them. Always apply classDef with color:#000 for node text.

For report-summary and overview depth: skip diagrams.

Step 3 — Resolve save path and handle collisions

1. Target path is the user's Q6 answer (or the default if they accepted it).
2. Ensure the parent directory exists. If missing, run Bash: mkdir -p {parent-dir}. If mkdir fails (e.g., permission error), fall back to the repo root with a warning.
3. If the target file already exists, append -YYYYMMDD-HHmm before .md to avoid overwriting.

Step 4 — Fill the template

1. Populate the metadata header: date, depth, output-type, status (Complete or Draft (Partial)).
2. Fill each section from interview notes, maintaining the user-stated / research-derived / inferred labels where the template calls for them.
3. Do not fabricate content to fill optional sections. Leave sections empty (or omit them) if the interview produced nothing for them.
4. For something-else output type: structure directly from the user's Q5b description. Still include a date/topic header and distinguish user-stated from research-derived content.

Step 5 — Write and report

1. Write the file to the resolved path.
2. Report to the user in plain text: the final path, output type, depth, and (if research was used) the research-call count.
3. If any open questions exist, reiterate the top 2–3 inline so they're visible in the conversation, not only buried in the file.

---

Error handling

Failure	Response
Argument file unreadable	Treat the argument as inline text instead
Slug generation empties out	Use question to prompt for an explicit slug
Research call fails after 1 retry	Continue without it; add to Open Questions
User gives minimal answers throughout	Don't fabricate depth in the artifact; produce a short Draft (Partial) output and note the abbreviated interview in the Methodology section
Write fails at the target path	Retry once with repo-root fallback; if that also fails, present the compiled markdown inline for the user to copy

---

Example: short end-to-end

User invocation: interviews-me with context "evaluating a career move from senior engineer to engineering manager"

Phase 1:

• Q1 Topic: loaded from argument — "career move from senior eng to EM"
• Q2 Goals: user selects "Structure my thinking"
• Q3 Focus: "My actual vs. imagined picture of the role"
• Q4 Depth: "Detailed discussion"
• Q5 Output: "Detailed report"
• Q6 Save: accept default internal/interviews/career-move-senior-eng-to-em-report-detailed.md

Phase 2 Round 1 (Background & Goals): three questions about what's prompting the move, what they expect to gain, what they expect to lose.

Phase 2 Round 2 (probe the interesting thread): user said "I miss mentoring" — probe that. Fire research on "management vs. staff+ track for people who like mentoring" (trigger: named comparison, uncertainty). Budget: 1/3.

Phase 2 Round 3: stakeholders, success criteria, risks.

Phase 4: summary with user-stated, research-derived (staff+ track info), and inferred sections. User confirms.

Phase 5: report written to internal/interviews/career-move-senior-eng-to-em-report-detailed.md. Open questions ("how does my current company structure the staff+ track?") surfaced in the chat.

---

Agents

This skill owns one private agent:

Agent	File	Purpose
interview-researcher	agents/interview-researcher.md	Pulls accurate, current information on a specific topic during the interview; returns a compact interview-ready markdown block

Execution Strategy

If subagent dispatch is available: Dispatch the interview-researcher agent as a subagent, passing the contents of agents/interview-researcher.md as the task instructions along with the research context (topic, interview subject, what the interview has learned, specific goals, depth). The subagent works independently and returns structured findings in its specified ≤400-word format.

If subagent dispatch is not available: Read agents/interview-researcher.md and follow its instructions directly. Produce the structured findings inline before returning to the interview. Tools available to you will determine the research tiers you can use (docs/web search vs. codebase vs. built-in knowledge).

Reference Files

• references/question-bank.md — seed questions by category and depth
• references/research-triggers.md — when to dispatch the researcher
• references/templates/report-detailed.md — detailed report structure
• references/templates/report-summary.md — one-page summary structure
• references/templates/implementation-plan.md — phased plan structure