Stop Using Other People's Skills
There are a number of software engineering skills out there and I’m here to tell you to stop using them.
The three most popular plugins for software engineering skills are:
If you have never used such plugins before, I recommend trying one out. If you used one for any non-trivial amount of time, I’d suggest you uninstall it and recreate your own version.
Creating software, like creating anything, is a deeply personal process. To truly master and own software development, you need to also take ownership of the development process. And if you don’t own the agentic skills you use, how can you claim you have ownership of the process?
My journey to improve my AI workflow started by trying out Matt Pocock’s “grill me” skill. This skill came highly recommended and its reputation is well-deserved. Using it opened my eyes to how an idea as simple as “interview me first” makes a huge difference in the quality of the final product.
After using it for a while though, I started to find problems with it. In my experience, the interview described by Pocock’s skill asked too many questions, as if the skill says, “Do not trust your coding agent’s judgement. Any concept that might be construed as ambiguous must be asked.” This might be exactly what you want, but it is not what I want. I do not micromanage the people I lead, nor will I micromanage my AI. Pocock’s skill used to write the domain modeling vocabulary in CONTEXT.md and changed it to GLOSSARY.md. You’re out of luck if you disagree with that change. I never liked CONTEXT.md and I don’t like GLOSSARY.md either. It’s just not how I do things.
After using Pocock’s skills for a while, I decided to create my own agent skills for software development. This is not to say Pococks’s skills aren’t good. They are fantastic! I would have never created my own skills without his creation! But following someone else’s workflow is no longer for me. I have my own preferences. I want my skills to model how I think and work.
I love to cook as a hobby. When I first learn to make a new dish, I follow the recipe entirely. But once I mastered that recipe, I start to make changes for what my family prefers. Software engineering workflows are much the same. When you first learn a development process, whether it is domain modeling, TDD, or agile, it is good to follow what was taught to you exactly. But once you have learned the process, you ought to adapt the process for yourself. As the saying goes, “good artists copy, great artists steal.” It is your responsibility as a great software engineer to steal other people’s workflows and make them your own.