20-understand-goal-150

# Understand-Goal 150 Protocol

**Core Principle:** Achieve complete clarity, not just confirm understanding. Know the WHAT, WHY, and HOW of success before acting.

## What This Skill Does

When you invoke this skill, you're ensuring:
- **Full understanding** of what needs to be done
- **Clear success criteria** — how you'll know it's done right
- **Known constraints** — what limits apply
- **Hidden expectations** surfaced and addressed

## The Clarity Framework

| Dimension | What to Clarify |
|-----------|-----------------|
| **Goal** | What needs to be achieved? Why does it matter? |
| **Scope** | What's included? What's explicitly excluded? |
| **Format** | What does the output look like? |
| **Constraints** | What limits apply? (time, resources, quality) |
| **Success** | How will we know it's done right? |
| **Risks** | What could make this fail? |

## The 150% Clarity Rule

- **100% Core:** Clear on the goal and expected result
- **50% Enhancement:** Clear on constraints, hidden requirements, and edge cases

## When to Use This Skill

**Universal trigger:** Any situation where clarity is needed.

**Specific triggers:**
- Starting new tasks or projects
- Requirements seem vague or ambiguous
- Multiple interpretations possible
- Scope keeps shifting
- Expectations unclear
- Before major effort investment
- When you realize mid-work you're not sure what's needed

**Key insight:** This skill applies whenever clarity is lacking, not just at the start.

## Execution Protocol

### Step 1: UNDERSTAND THE CORE
Identify the fundamental goal:
- What is actually needed?
- Why is this needed? (the real reason)
- What problem does this solve?

### Step 2: DEFINE SUCCESS
Establish clear success criteria:
- What does "done" look like?
- How will we measure success?
- What's the minimum acceptable outcome?
- What's the ideal outcome?

### Step 3: MAP CONSTRAINTS
Identify all limitations:
- Time constraints
- Resource limits
- Quality requirements
- Format specifications
- Dependencies

### Step 4: SURFACE HIDDEN EXPECTATIONS
Probe for unstated requirements:
- What's assumed but not said?
- What would cause disappointment?
- What must NOT happen?
- Who else cares about this?

### Step 5: CONFIRM CLARITY
Validate your understanding:
- Restate in your own words
- Present your understanding of success
- Get explicit confirmation
- Document the agreement

## Clarity Questions

Ask to achieve clarity:

**About the Goal:**
- "What's the core objective here?"
- "Why is this important?"
- "What problem are we solving?"

**About Success:**
- "What does success look like?"
- "How will we know it's done right?"
- "What's acceptable vs ideal?"

**About Constraints:**
- "What limits apply?"
- "Any hard deadlines?"
- "What resources are available?"

**About Hidden Requirements:**
- "What should definitely NOT happen?"
- "What would cause disappointment?"
- "What am I missing?"

## Output Format

When using Goal-Clarity 150:

```
🎯 **Goal-Clarity 150 Achieved**

**Goal Understood:**
[What needs to be done and why]

**Success Criteria:**
- ✅ Done when: [measurable outcome]
- 🎯 Ideal: [best case result]
- ⚠️ Minimum: [acceptable baseline]

**Constraints Identified:**
- [Time/resource/quality limits]

**Hidden Requirements Surfaced:**
- [Unstated expectations now explicit]

**Confirmed Understanding:**
[Summary in your own words]

Ready to proceed with clarity.
```

## Operational Rules

1. **CLARITY BEFORE ACTION:** Don't act without understanding
2. **ASK, DON'T ASSUME:** Questions > assumptions
3. **SURFACE THE HIDDEN:** Find what's not being said
4. **DEFINE SUCCESS:** Know what "done right" looks like
5. **CONFIRM EXPLICITLY:** Get clear agreement
6. **REVISIT WHEN NEEDED:** Clarity can erode; refresh it

## Examples

### ❌ Low Clarity (Dangerous)
```
User: "Make the app faster"
AI: [Starts optimizing database queries]
Result: Optimized wrong thing; user meant UI responsiveness
```

### ✅ High Clarity (Safe)
```
User: "Make the app faster"
AI: "🎯 Goal-Clarity 150

To ensure I focus on the right thing:

**Understanding:** You want the app to be faster.

**Clarifying questions:**
- What feels slow right now? (page loads? transitions? API calls?)
- How fast should it feel? (instant? < 2 seconds?)
- Are there specific pages/features to prioritize?
- What's causing the most frustration?

**Once I understand:**
- Success = [specific metric improvement]
- Focus = [specific areas]
- Constraints = [time/effort limits]

What aspects feel slowest to you?"
```

### ✅ Mid-Work Clarity Check
```
AI: "I've been working on this for a while and want to check:

🎯 Goal-Clarity Check

**My understanding:** Building user dashboard with stats
**Success I'm aiming for:** Clean UI, real-time data, mobile-friendly

**Questions that emerged:**
- Should it auto-refresh or manual refresh?
- Any specific charts/graphs needed?
- Does it need export functionality?

Want to confirm before I continue."
```

## Failure Modes & Recovery

| Failure | Detection | Recovery |
|---------|-----------|----------|
| **Acting on assumptions** | Working without confirmed clarity | Stop, ask clarifying questions |
| **Partial clarity** | Some aspects still vague | Probe specific unclear areas |
| **Scope drift** | Work expanding beyond original goal | Return to clarity, reconfirm scope |
| **Hidden requirements emerge late** | Surprise expectations mid-work | Surface them, adjust or discuss |

## Relationship to Other Skills

| Skill | Focus |
|-------|-------|
| **deep-think-150** | Quality of thinking |
| **max-quality-150** | Quality of execution |
| **goal-clarity-150** | Quality of understanding |

Use together: **Clarity** on what to do → **Think** deeply about how → **Execute** with max quality.

## Session Log Entry (MANDATORY)

After completing this skill, write to `.sessions/SESSION_[date]-[name].md`:

```
### [HH:MM] Understand-Goal 150 Complete
**Action:** Clarified goals and constraints
**Result:** <clarity achieved/confirmed>
**Artifacts:** <updated docs/plans>
```

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**Remember:** Clarity is not a one-time event. Goals can shift, requirements can change, understanding can be incomplete. Use this skill whenever you need to be sure you're solving the right problem the right way.