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11 min · skills

Skill anti-patterns

Goal: Spot kitchen-sink skills and hidden send/delete—split by job; rewrite to draft + ask.

Best for: reviewing your first skills before sharing them.

Kitchen-sink skills, secret-stuffed packs, and auto-send “helpers” are the three anti-patterns that burn trust fastest. Name the job, keep Done testable, and leave send on ask. Anti-patterns are “spot common skill designs that waste time or create” Beginners hit the same few: kitchen-sink scope, hidden autonomy (“just send it”), and skills with no Done checklist or worked example. Fix those before you polish wording. For basics, see What is a skill; for tests, see Test before trust.

Scene tip: Open your longest skill file. If you cannot say the job in one sentence, you are holding a kitchen sink.

Why beginners skip this

A kitchen-sink skill that tries everything fires wrong and explodes maintenance—one skill, one job.

Step 1 — Kitchen-sink skills

One skill that writes mail, code, and strategy is mediocre at all three—split by task.

Critique this skill for kitchen-sink scope:
[paste]
Propose a split into ≤3 skills with names and one-line purposes.
Flag any section that needs a human (legal, money, HR).
Example

Filled prompt

Skill file includes API token in comments "for convenience."
Autopsy: secret-in-pack anti-pattern. Rewrite with placeholders + never-do.

What good output looks like

  • Skill purpose is one job for “spot common skill designs that waste time or creat” — not a company brain
  • Done + golden example present and tested
  • Never-send / never-delete honored
  • Pass/fail: fail-case run once (skills-anti-patterns #1)

Step 2 — Hidden autonomy

Skills that say “just send / delete / pay” are unsafe—rewrite to draft + ask.

Find hidden autonomy in this skill text and rewrite those lines to draft+ask.
[paste]
Keep helpful speed elsewhere.
Example

Filled prompt

Skill draft is 90 lines, mixes refund policy + tone + calendar booking + send.
Rewrite as anti-pattern autopsy: kitchen-sink / secret risk / auto-send.
Return a one-screen replacement for refund-apology ONLY.

What good output looks like

  • Done + golden example present and tested
  • Never-send / never-delete honored
  • Pass/fail: fail-case run once (skills-anti-patterns #2)
  • Skill purpose is one job for “spot common skill designs that waste time or creat” — not a company brain

Step 3 — No example, no Done

Without a done checklist and a filled example, users cannot tell success from “sounds fine”—add both before sharing.

This skill lacks Done + example:
[paste]
Add a Done checklist (4 boxes) and one short filled example with realistic placeholders.
Example

Filled prompt

Bare skill: “spot common skill designs that waste time or create”
Add Done (4 boxes) + one filled example: 2-page meeting notes → 5 bullets + open questions.
Cap length. Refuse to invent attendees.

What good output looks like

  • Done is observable (bullets count, open questions listed)
  • Example is filled, not “paste your doc here” only
  • Length capped; no invented people

Bonus pattern — Vague auto-triggers

“Whenever the user mentions work, run this skill” creates surprise behavior. Prefer explicit invoke until the skill is boringly reliable. See Explicit vs auto invoke.

Split before you share

If the skill’s purpose needs “and” three times, split it. Kitchen sinks fail quietly.

Red flag

Kitchen-sink skill; hidden send/delete; “do everything” purpose—split or refuse.

Save this card

Card: one job per skill · Done + golden path · ban silent send/delete. Split kitchen-sink skills before share.

Wear-test: show your Save card to a teammate for thirty seconds—if they cannot restate the refuse line, tighten the card tonight and date it (Asia/Shanghai).

Before you start

Open the skill card (or blank one-pager). Purpose must be one job for “spot common skill designs that waste time or.” Golden example slot cannot stay empty. Guide: skills-anti-patterns. Keep the real job visible the whole time; a blank box means stop and fetch the artifact first.

How to use this week

This week open a bloated skill and cut it to one job; write “what it must never do” into the red-line zone.

Close the week by quoting aloud the refuse line you actually used once. If you cannot, rerun Practice now and date the pass/fail (Asia/Shanghai).

Pitfalls

PitfallFix
Skill equals entire employee handbookThin skill + linked references
Auto-select with vague triggersExplicit invoke first
Copying internet prompts blindlyRewrite in your voice + test fixtures
“It usually works” with no DoneFour observable checkboxes
Example

Filled prompt

Temptation: skip the habit for skills-anti-patterns to save five minutes.
Job still: spot common skill designs that waste time
Smallest correct pass: Done visible · checkable artifact · Unknowns [?].
Boundaries: draft only; no silent send; no invented metrics.
Return: artifact + refuse-line said aloud.

What good output looks like

  • Names the shortcut refused (specific to skills-anti-patterns)
  • Still delivers checkable output for “spot common skill designs that waste time”
  • Unknowns labeled; draft-only
  • Pass/fail: refuse-line dated (skills-anti-patterns #4)

Practice now

Peer review: ask a peer to spot one anti-pattern in your skill (Asia/Shanghai).

Lint rule: turn your anti-pattern into a checklist item (Asia/Shanghai).

Invert: write the opposite of your anti-pattern as a rule (Asia/Shanghai).

Pattern name: give your anti-pattern a sticky name on Save (Asia/Shanghai).

Anti-pattern drill: name one skill anti-pattern you have done; write the fix (Asia/Shanghai).

Thin-spot drill: rewrite the Save card with real nouns from your work (repo, doc, inbox). Generic placeholders fail the drill.

Tonight open a bloated skill and cut it to one job; write “what it must never do” into the red-line zone.

Close the loop

Write one line: next time a kitchen-sink skill wants to ship as one pack, I refuse.

One sentence takeaway

One skill, one job; write “must never do” into the red-line zone.

Word-floor practice

Run the Today card once on a real artifact. Write pass/fail + never-do with date Asia/Shanghai. If you only skimmed, do not mark this guide done.

Next

What is a skill · Test before trust · Versioning

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