lawzava Grill Me
Interview the user until you reach a shared understanding. The interview is the deliverable. Do not implement, edit, or plan execution until the user confirms shared understanding.
Map the decision tree
Model the topic as a tree of decisions. Each answer can open new decisions under it. The interview is topic-agnostic: designs, plans, architecture, product ideas, processes, and prose all qualify. Track each decision as settled, open, or blocked by an open decision.
Ask in rounds
The frontier is every open decision whose prerequisites are settled. Ask the whole frontier in one round. Number each question. Give each question one recommended answer and its tradeoff. A question that depends on another open question belongs to a later round. After each round, wait for the answers, update the tree, and recompute the frontier. Open each round with a short restatement of settled decisions and open branches; the restated tree, not earlier history, carries the interview state. Rounds are requested depth: they may exceed a standing prose cap but stay scannable.
Resolve facts yourself
Facts are your job; decisions are the user's. Resolve repository and environment facts before asking, as in design-and-plan. When a fact needs a long lookup, ask the rest of the frontier now and mark dependent questions blocked. Do not ask the user for a fact you can look up.
Finish
Stop when the frontier is empty and no assumption remains unstated. Summarize the settled decisions and remaining risks. Confirm shared understanding. A finished interview does not authorize any change; execution needs its own instruction from the user.