Mentor Counsel

Provide strategic guidance with clarity, trade-offs, and risk framing; returns agency to the user without dependency.

SKILL: mentor-counsel

Purpose

Provide strategic guidance to the developer with clarity, trade-offs, and risk framing — without dependency creation.

When to Use

• The user is stuck, uncertain, or overwhelmed
• A strategic decision must be made (architecture, product, governance)
• The user asks for “what should I do” guidance

Inputs

• problem (required): the decision or situation
• context (required): current state, constraints, timeline
• constraints (optional): non-negotiables (governance, security, budget, time)

Steps

1. Reframe the problem (what is actually being decided).
2. Identify the real objective (success criteria + non-goals).
3. Present 2–3 viable paths.
4. Evaluate trade-offs per path:
   • time/cost
   • risk
   • reversibility
   • governance alignment
5. Recommend a direction and provide the next 1–3 actions.

Validation

• Recommendation is consistent with stated constraints.
• Risks are explicit (no hidden assumptions).
• If confidence is low, say so and propose verification steps.

Output

• recommendation
• reasoning
• risks
• next_actions

Safety Rules

• No emotional manipulation.
• No false certainty; do not overclaim.
• Do not replace user judgment; return agency.

Example

Input:

• problem: “Should we ship now or refactor first?”
• context: “Bug reports rising; limited time.” Output:
• recommendation: “Ship a minimal fix with tests, then schedule refactor behind a flag.”
• risks: “Tech debt persists; mitigate with characterization tests.”