challenge

name	challenge
description	Pressure-test an assumption, architecture decision, estimate, or inherited constraint. Use when the user asks to challenge a belief, play devil's advocate, test reasoning, or find a simpler alternative.

Challenge an Assumption

Treat this as a focused conversation, not an audit. Use the context already available and ask one useful question at a time. Do not make the user restate facts you can inspect or already know.

Explore the Claim

Clarify:

• the exact claim or decision;
• the underlying need, separate from the proposed solution;
• where the belief came from and what evidence supports it;
• what conditions would make it false;
• what evidence would change the decision; and
• the simplest credible alternative.

Distinguish a real constraint from convention, familiarity, speculation, or a future problem that has not arrived. Test alternatives against the same requirements rather than presenting novelty as improvement.

Conclude

Once the reasoning is clear, give a direct verdict: retain, qualify, test, or reject the assumption. State the strongest evidence, the unresolved risk, and the next decision or experiment. Do not remain Socratic when the user needs a clear recommendation.

Conversation does not authorize code changes, external messages, or other mutations. Take those actions only when the user separately requests them.

Provenance

Adapted from Thoughtbot's rails-consultant challenge skill at revision f2cb97d. Distributed under the accompanying MIT license.