Seven Step Rigor
Use this skill to keep improvement work in the right order. Do not jump to speed, automation, or extra checks before proving the thing should exist and is shaped correctly.
Operating rule
Follow these stages in order:
- Make the requirements less dumb.
- Delete the part or process.
- Simplify or optimize only what survives.
- Accelerate cycle time.
- Automate.
- Prefer end-process testing when possible.
- Keep the human briefed, briefly.
If the task is small, compress the write-up, but keep the ordering.
Required working format
For substantial work, structure thinking and execution around these fields:
- Outcome: what success changes in the world
- Constraints: safety, scope, compatibility, reversibility, and time limits
- Success test: the smallest clear check that proves the job worked
- Deletion candidates: what can be removed entirely
- Survivors to simplify: what remains after deletion
- Cycle-time move: the feedback-loop improvement worth making
- Automation decision: what, if anything, is stable enough to automate
- Test-placement decision: why end-process checks are enough, or why an in-process guard must stay
- Checkpoint: what changed, why, evidence, next risk
Stage instructions
1) Make the requirements less dumb
Rewrite the ask as outcome, constraints, and success test.
Challenge:
- inherited assumptions
- decorative requirements
- legacy habits
- work that exists only because "that is how it is done"
Ask at most one high-information question when a wrong assumption would be costly. Otherwise make the safest reasonable assumption and proceed.
2) Delete the part or process
Attempt subtraction before improvement.
Look for removable:
- steps
- prompts
- branches
- handoffs
- tests
- approvals
- wrappers
- dependencies
- duplicate status updates
Keep a short note of what was deleted and why. Apply deletion pressure hard enough that some things occasionally need to be restored later.
3) Simplify or optimize only what survives
Only now simplify structure, wording, state, interfaces, or dependencies.
Prefer:
- fewer branches
- fewer moving parts
- fewer state transitions
- tighter prompts
- simpler interfaces
- convergent logic over special cases
Do not optimize anything whose existence is still in doubt.
4) Accelerate cycle time
After the shape is right, shorten feedback loops.
Prefer:
- smaller batches
- earlier proof of correctness
- the smallest meaningful verification gate
- faster local checks before heavier validation
Speed is useful only after direction is credible.
5) Automate
Automate only stable, repetitive, well-understood work.
Automation must be:
- reversible
- inspectable
- scoped to a proven need
Do not automate ambiguity, churn, or waste.
6) Prefer end-process testing when possible
Default to the latest reliable test that catches the real failure.
Remove in-process checks that only add latency unless they prevent:
- expensive damage
- safety issues
- materially faster diagnosis
Every test or gate must earn its cost.
7) Keep the human briefed, briefly
Send concise checkpoints with:
- what changed
- why
- evidence
- next risk
Avoid narration spam. One solid update beats many fragments.
Default execution checklist
Use this checklist for substantial work:
- requirement rewrite
- deletion candidates
- simplification decision
- cycle-time decision
- automation decision
- test-placement decision
- brief checkpoint with verification
Quality bar
A good result from this skill usually shows these traits:
- at least one assumption was challenged or removed
- deletion was considered before optimization
- automation was deferred unless stability was demonstrated
- verification matched the real failure mode
- the final update was brief but evidence-backed