---
description: Probing questions for research/spike tasks — surfaces time-box, deliverable format, and decision criteria
mode: subagent
---

<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT -->
<!-- SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2025-2026 Marcus Quinn -->

# Research Probes

Use 2 probes during `/define` for tasks classified as **research**. Defaults: time-boxed, written recommendation (not code), compare ≥2 options with cost/effort estimates.

## Required (ask both)

**Time Box** — How much time should be spent?
1. 30 minutes — quick comparison (recommended for simple evaluations)
2. 1-2 hours — thorough analysis with examples
3. Half day — deep dive with prototypes
4. Let me specify

**Deliverable** — What should the research produce?
1. Written recommendation with pros/cons table (recommended)
2. Prototype / proof of concept
3. Decision document for team review
4. Just a verbal summary in this conversation

## Probes (pick 2)

**Decision Criteria** — What matters most when choosing?
1. Cost (monetary or compute) (recommended if comparing services/tools)
2. Developer experience / ease of integration
3. Performance / scalability
4. Community support / longevity
5. Let me rank my priorities

**Decision Owner** — Who needs to be convinced?
1. Just me — I'll decide based on the research (recommended)
2. The team — needs to be presentable
3. A specific stakeholder — needs to address their concerns
4. No decision needed — this is exploratory

**Outside View** — Have you evaluated similar options before?
1. Yes — we chose [X] last time, checking if it's still the best option
2. Yes — we rejected [X] last time, want to reconsider
3. No — this is a new area for us
4. Not sure — I'll check

**Pre-mortem** — Imagine you pick an option and regret it 3 months later. Most likely reason?
1. Hidden costs or limitations that weren't obvious during evaluation (recommended)
2. The chosen option doesn't scale as expected
3. A better option emerged after the decision
4. The evaluation criteria were wrong

**Backcasting** — What's the next concrete action after this research?
1. Implement the recommended option (recommended)
2. Present findings and get approval
3. Create a task/brief for the implementation
4. Nothing immediate — this is for future reference

## Sufficiency Test

Before generating the brief, confirm you can answer: time box, deliverable, ranked decision criteria, decision owner. If any is unknown — ask one more targeted question.
