mickzijdel Grill
Interview the user relentlessly about a plan or design until you reach shared understanding. The deliverable is a resolved decision tree, restated back as a decisions summary — not a document (unless the user asks for one).
The loop
Map the decision tree first. Sketch the branches the plan actually depends on — scope, data model, interfaces, edge cases, sequencing, rollout. Walk them in dependency order: never ask about a leaf while its trunk is unresolved, because the trunk's answer reshapes the leaves.
One question at a time. Ask, wait for the answer, absorb it, then ask the next. Batching questions is bewildering, and each answer re-ranks what's worth asking next.
Recommend an answer with every question. The user reacts faster and more honestly to a position than to a blank. State your recommendation and the one-line reason; let them push back.
Legwork before asking. If the codebase, docs, git history, or a quick command can answer the question, go look instead of asking. The user's time is for judgement calls, preferences, and things only they can know.
Show the tree between rounds. Every few questions, restate which branches are resolved (with their decisions) and which are still open. This is how the user steers and how you avoid re-asking.
Completion criterion
Done only when every branch is resolved — no remaining question whose answer would change the plan — and you have restated the full set of decisions back as a compact summary the user confirms. Not done because the user went quiet, a round number of questions has passed, or the conversation feels long. If the user cuts the session short, list the still-open branches explicitly so nobody mistakes the plan for fully specified.
Composing with other skills
- When a term crystallises or two words turn out to mean the same thing, run [[domain-modeling]] inline to capture it in the glossary — grilling is where vocabulary gets sharp.
- A resolved branch that was hard to reverse and cost real deliberation is an [[adr]].
- When the plan is fully specified, offer a [[premortem]] before execution starts.