Answer Uncomfortable Question

SkillAI & models

Takes one strategic question about substacker ("should we launch paid?", "is this section dead?", "are we writing for the wrong audience?") and produces the mandatory evidence + reasoning + downside triad plus a recommendation. Used 3 times per Growth Strategist review. Trigger keywords — uncomfortable question, strategic question, evidence reasoning downside, triad.

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the Answer Uncomfortable Question skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by lyndonkl/claude in skills/answer-uncomfortable-question/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

Workflow

Per question:
- [ ] Step 1: Reject if not answerable with current inputs → "I'd like to ask X, but I don't have the data. Here's what to collect before next quarter."
- [ ] Step 2: Gather evidence: numbers, quotes, specific posts. Cite them.
- [ ] Step 3: Write reasoning as a chain: evidence A → inference B → inference C → recommendation
- [ ] Step 4: Write downside: what SPECIFICALLY goes wrong if the recommendation is wrong?
- [ ] Step 5: End with one-line recommendation: do X / don't do X / watch Y
- [ ] Step 6: 200-400 words per question

Uncomfortable-question selection criteria

The Strategist chooses 3 per quarter. Scoring:

  1. Data-backed: answerable from current inputs. Reject otherwise.
  2. Decision-relevant: answering it changes what the writer does next quarter.
  3. Recency filter: don't re-ask last quarter's unresolved question without significant new data.
  4. User-prompted override: if writer invoked with specific question, force-include it.
  5. Portfolio coverage: across quarters, hit growth / product / voice axes.

Format per question

### Q{N}: {phrased as a real question, not a topic}
**Evidence**: What the numbers / corpus / audience actually say. Cite Growth Analyst report or specific posts.
**Reasoning**: Why the evidence leads to {answer}. Chain: A → B → C.
**Downside**: What specifically breaks if this recommendation is wrong.
**Recommendation**: Do X / Don't do X / Watch Y before deciding.

Guardrails

  1. Evidence-reasoning-downside triad is mandatory. Missing any → suppress the question.
  2. Never fabricate evidence. If the data doesn't exist, reject the question.
  3. Downside must be specific. "We lose time" is not a downside; "we lock in a topic the audience has outgrown" is.
  4. Recommendation is one line. Not a paragraph of hedging.
  5. 200-400 words per question. The full review has 3 questions at ~300 words each.

Signals

GitHub stars
158
Forks
23
Last commit
Sep 2026
Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
answer-uncomfortable-question
Source
github.com/lyndonkl/claude