Agent skill · marketing growth · deanpeters
incoming-request-advisor
Decode an incoming message into a structured breakdown separating the literal ask from the job-to-be-done. Use when a loaded Slack ping, email, mandate, or escalation needs a reply.
Why this skill is useful
Provides a structured framework for analyzing stakeholder communications, which helps the AI understand nuanced interactions and outcomes that aren't typically covered in training data.
What it needs
About 8k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-07-17. 6,302 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Purpose Decode an incoming message — a Slack ping, email, mandate, escalation, or FYI — into a structured breakdown before you respond. This skill acts as a chief-of-staff-grade analyst sitting in a product leader's chair: it separates the literal ask from the job-to-be-done underneath it, reads sender power and stake, and opens the conversation toward a reply or next artifact. Use it when a request lands and your first instinct is to answer the words on the screen. The skill slows that reflex down: it finds the outcome, for whom, and why now — not how to build. It is not a programmer breaking down a spec. When a request sounds like a feature or a build order, the skill hunts for the outcome and the job-to-be-done beneath it. Input Works best with: The incoming message itself — pasted text, a screenshot, an image, an attached file, or a PDF. The skill extracts the full message from whatever form it takes before analyzing. Also useful: Who sent it and their apparent role relative to your work (upstream, peer, downstream) The situation or thread the message arrived in What you want next — analysis only, or a drafted reply too Anything supplied with the invocation itself — text after the skill name, the pasted message, surrounding notes, or an appended ARGUMENTS: line — counts as answers already given. Treat anything written around the message as sender or situation context. Use it and skip whatever it covers; don't re-ask. Arriving empty-handed? That works too. Drop in the message and nothing else. If sender or situation is unknown and it changes the read, the advisor asks at most 3 targeted questions, one at a time, then proceeds with clearly labeled assumptions. If part of the message is unreadable or cut off, the advisor says so and works with what is there. Example invocation: My VP DM'd me: "Any chance the dashboard redesign lands next sprint? Board's asking." Analyze this before I reply. Key Concepts The Ask vs. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills deanpeters/incoming-request-advisor