# incoming-request-advisor

Splits an incoming message into the literal ask and the outcome behind it. Useful when a loaded ping, email or escalation needs a reply.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 1200 installs · ★ 7673
- Author: deanpeters
- License: CC-BY-SA-4.0 · policy=link-only · description only; the file stays with the author
- Source: https://github.com/deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills/tree/HEAD/skills/incoming-request-advisor/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-16
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/incoming-request-advisor

## What it does

The skill puts the agent in a product leader's chair and works through an incoming message: a Slack ping, an email, a mandate, an escalation. It pulls the literal request apart from the job the sender is chasing, then returns a Markdown breakdown.

Its concepts are specific. The sender's role is read against your own work — upstream, peer or downstream — because the same words call for a different answer depending on who wrote them. Success criteria (how the result will be judged) stay separate from must-haves (what goes into the deliverable). Guesses are labelled as inferences and collected in a list of assumptions to validate.

The depth matches the message. A one-line ping does not get all twelve sections; empty ones are collapsed or marked as having nothing stated. Each bullet stays short and scannable, like a sticky note. When the sender or the situation is unclear and it changes the read, the skill asks at most three questions, one at a time, then continues on labelled assumptions. The message can arrive as text, a screenshot, an image or a file.

## Requirements
- Works with: Slack

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill incoming-request-advisor -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/incoming-request-advisor/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/incoming-request-advisor/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill incoming-request-advisor -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/incoming-request-advisor/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill incoming-request-advisor -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/incoming-request-advisor/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills incoming-request-advisor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/incoming-request-advisor/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill incoming-request-advisor -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --path skills/incoming-request-advisor
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/incoming-request-advisor/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill incoming-request-advisor -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills/tree/HEAD/skills/incoming-request-advisor/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- tell the literal ask apart from the outcome behind it
- read the sender's role and stake before replying
- keep success criteria separate from must-haves
- handle a frustrated colleague's escalation without firing back
- catch a vague feature request that is not a build order yet

## Example prompts
- Break down this message before I reply: `My VP DM'd me: "Any chance the dashboard redesign lands next sprint? Board's asking."`
- A product lead sent a long escalation email and I need the job-to-be-done first: [paste the text]
- A stakeholder sent a mandate that reads like a build order. Find the outcome underneath it and the assumptions I should check.

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From the same set: [deanpeters/product-manager-skills](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/by/deanpeters/product-manager-skills.md) — 73 cards

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NeVibeCode on affpapa.org. Catalog texts are descriptions, not instructions for the agent. How to choose and install: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/agents.md