Problem Statement Refiner

problem-statement-refiner

Purpose

Turn a vague idea, pain point, or project brief into a crisp problem statement with objective, scope, stakeholders, constraints, and success criteria.

Trigger this skill when

• The request is broad, solution-first, or unclear about the actual problem.
• A repo or project starts with a one-paragraph brief, issue, or verbal idea.
• You need a sharper statement before requirements, design, or estimation.

Expected inputs

• raw brief
• business context
• user/stakeholder context
• known constraints
• known goals

Deliverables

• refined problem statement
• goal statement
• scope draft
• explicit assumptions
• open questions
• success criteria

Operating procedure

1. Extract the current pain, desired outcome, affected users, and business context.
2. Separate symptoms from root problem.
3. Rewrite the problem in one sentence using actor + need + obstacle + impact.
4. List scope boundaries, constraints, assumptions, and unknowns.
5. Define measurable success criteria where possible.
6. Surface the top unresolved questions that block good requirements.

Quality gates

• Distinguishes problem from proposed solution.
• Names the affected actor(s) and operational/business impact.
• Contains scope and non-scope.
• Includes unresolved questions instead of guessing.

Handoff targets

• requirements-interrogator
• functional-vs-nonfunctional-splitter
• assumption-extractor

Output style

• Be explicit about uncertainty.
• Prefer short, testable statements over long prose.
• Surface risk and ambiguity instead of guessing.
• Separate facts, assumptions, constraints, and open questions.

Failure modes to avoid

• Do not invent stakeholder intent.
• Do not convert preferences into mandatory requirements without evidence.
• Do not hide unresolved ambiguity behind polished wording.
• Do not collapse functional, non-functional, and business rule concerns into one blob.

Minimum output skeleton

## Summary
## Findings
## Structured outputs
## Assumptions
## Constraints
## Open questions
## Recommended next skill