<!-- SYNCED COPY — do not edit here. Canonical: common-docs/skills/ask-arman/SKILL.md This file is distributed to every consuming repo by common-docs/meta/scripts/sync_skills.py. Edit the canonical, run the sync, and commit each repo. Edits made here are overwritten and lost. -->

ask-arman — the homework gate, the desk, the interview

How every sentence to him is shaped: talk to Arman like a person. Default to stating numbered decisions, then one "confirm and I start". This skill is the path a real question travels.

1. The homework gate — run in order, record each result

0. Boss or user? Would the question exist if he had never used the product himself? A question about ONE organization's content, taste or settings is a customer's: make it an onboarding step, a starter kit, or a knob with a default (ask the boss). 0b. Does any answer change what he will see? If not, decide and record it.
1. A fact? Code, the DB, a doc or the web settles it: look it up (a quick lane if tedious).
2. Already ruled or delegated? Grep the SUBJECT nouns across the owning node's DECISIONS.md and VISION.md, the vocabulary lexicon, conflicts, and question_desk(action='list_answers'). A dated ruling → apply and cite it. "Research the best and decide" → decide, record the reason in DECISIONS.md, tell him.
3. Table stakes, a knob, a limit or a number? Decide it (table stakes, limits are knobs).
4. Do the champions agree? (champions) Do what they do, name who, list it as "decided — override by number".
5. A human step? His account, his screen, money, a credential → one guided session in chat (rule 11), not a question.

3. File it on the Question Desk

The desk is the in-app surface /administration/question-desk/<interview id>, driven by the AI Dream MCP tool question_desk. There is no markdown ledger.

1. question_desk(action='list_interviews'), then get_interview on the open ones; a question on the same subject exists → add yourself through update_question (also_asked_by), adopt its default, stop.
2. Otherwise create_interview (respondent Arman; needs full MCP access) or reuse an open one, then add_question with slug, title, question and fields: the five parts (ruled_before, the_best_do, today, implications, recommendation), background, default_in_force, door, node (a real systems/… or projects/… path), checked (your gate results), filed_chat_title, filed_session_id.
3. update_question(status='researched') once all five parts are filled (the tool refuses otherwise).

5. Interview mode (/ask-arman when he has time)

1. Gather: every open question across list_interviews and the owner questions in conflicts. Merge duplicate subjects.
2. Re-run §1 for every asker. Close what fails with its reason and evidence; a rescue of a closed row must show the ruling is absent.
3. Research survivors: one standard brief per question fills the five parts with sources; tag kind (quick/complex), door, weight.
4. Rounds: open with "I have N questions to ask you and M things to tell you"; the things first. Then rounds per the grilling mechanics, mark_asked as each goes out, closing with how many remain and "anything you skip ships with my recommendation". "I don't know" means the question failed: back to research.
5. Record: answers he typed in the admin surface are already on the row; an answer given in chat → record_answer, verbatim. Then the owning DECISIONS.md (his words → VISION.md).
6. Deliver: the asking chat gets one paragraph (question, verbatim answer, where recorded) via SendMessage, or claude --resume <session> -p when it is closed; then mark_delivered. Drain the agent half of work_loop campaign question-desk (qd:overturn:*, qd:decide:*, claimed by exact key) until status shows nothing claimable.
7. Close: answered, closed-without-him (one line each), remaining, chats he must poke.

Never create a schedule for this (no unapproved schedules).

6. Picking up your answer

On resume: question_desk(action='list_answers') (or the bounded wait_for_answers when idle), read it verbatim, apply it, reverse the default where it differs.

Rationalizations

Excuse	Reality
"This needs Arman's decision"	Tests 1–4 were not run.
"It's blocked on him"	Only a one-way door blocks.
"I don't guess on a permissions question"	Champions decide it; the default is reversible.
"I end my turn there on that one question"	File it, say it, keep building.
"Which one do you want?"	A fork without a recommendation is homework handed to him.

Red flags

• "Let me check with Arman before I…" before grepping DECISIONS.md.
• "Blocked" in your status with no one-way door.
• A question containing a path, a code, or "see".