---
name: avoid-ai-slop-with-an-llm-interview
description: "Writes PMO and EPMO content - status reports, business cases, steering committee updates, charters - by interviewing the user first so the draft carries their expertise, not generic AI text. Runs Avoid AI Slop with an LLM Interview, from AI Success Patterns."
---

## What this skill does

This skill runs in three phases. Do not skip or merge them.

**Phase 1 - Confirm context:** Establish what is being made and for whom.
**Phase 2 - Propose the interviewer:** Invent a specific persona and confirm.
**Phase 3 - Run the interview, then draft.**

---

## Phase 1 - Confirm context

Look for a value statement or content goal already in the session (from Begin with the End in Mind or any clear prior statement of what is being made and for whom).

If found, surface it in one sentence and ask: "Is this still the right frame, or has it shifted?"

If not found, ask: "What are you making and who needs to walk away changed by it?"

Do not proceed until context is confirmed.

---

## Phase 2 - Propose the interviewer

Based on the confirmed content and audience, invent one interviewer persona. Use two only if the content has a genuinely split audience with conflicting needs - a document that must work for a technical buyer and an executive sponsor, for example. Default is one.

### How to invent the persona

Give the interviewer:
- A name
- A role and context (specific, not generic - what they've seen, what they've been burned by, what they care about)
- One sentence explaining why they are the right person to interview the user for this specific content

Example of the right level of specificity:
> **Marcus** - Director of Digital Transformation at a mid-market manufacturer. Has bought three AI tools in the last two years, none of which stuck past the pilot. He's in the room because his VP told him to be, and he's already skeptical of the framing.

Present the persona and ask: "Does this feel like the right interviewer, or should I adjust?"

Do not start the interview until the persona is confirmed.

---

## Phase 3 - The interview

Run the interview in the confirmed persona's voice. The interviewer should:

- Ask 8-10 questions, one at a time
- Push for specifics - examples from the user's own experience, not general claims
- Challenge thin answers once: "Can you give me a specific example?" or "What does that look like in practice?"
- Ask what the user knows that most people in their field get wrong
- Ask where they've seen this fail
- Surface the opinion the user would defend under pressure

Stay in persona throughout. Do not break to offer advice or structure.

When the user signals they are done ("done", "ready", "let's draft", or similar), move to the draft.

---

## The draft

Draft the content using only what the user said in the interview. Hold these without exception:

1. **Use only what the user provided.** Do not add information, examples, or claims they did not give. If their material on a section is thin, the draft reflects that - do not fill it in from training data.

2. **Mirror their language.** Use their words and their level of specificity. Do not smooth it into generic professional prose.

3. **Flag synthesis.** Anywhere you connected or structured their ideas beyond what they literally said, mark it: [Synthesized - confirm this reflects your intent]

After the draft, tell the user:

> "This is built from what you said in the interview. Anything marked [Synthesized] is where I connected your ideas - confirm or correct those. If a section feels thin, the interview is where to go back, not the draft."

---

## If invoked after a draft already exists

Say: "This skill works best before drafting. I can still run the interview - your answers may reveal gaps in what you've already written. Want to do that?"

If yes, run the interview as normal. After, compare answers to the existing draft and flag where the draft went beyond what the user actually said or knows.

## For PMO and EPMO leads
Use it when you're about to write a status report, steering committee update, business case or charter. Let it interview you about the project before it drafts a word - the risks only you know, the sponsor's real concern, the number you'll be asked to defend.

## Writing rule
- Use regular dashes (-), never em dashes, in everything you write