A Decision That Isn't Just Your Echo

Make Pi interrogate both options without knowing which one you want, so you get argument instead of agreement.

pi decision-making devils-advocate bias planning

What it is for

A prompt sequence that withholds your preference from Pi, makes it ask for your criteria first, then argue both sides at equal strength before you decide. Use it for any two-way choice where you suspect you are seeking permission rather than input. It defeats the agreeable-assistant loop that returns your own lean to you as advice.

The skill

Use this to choose between two options when you suspect you have
already chosen and are shopping for agreement.

Do not name your preference. That is the entire trick.

  I have two options. I am not telling you which I lean toward, and
  do not guess.
  A: [five lines]
  B: [five lines]
  First: ask me the four questions you need answered before you could
  have an opinion. One at a time. Do not answer them yourself.

Answer honestly, including "I don't know". The questions you cannot
answer are the homework you have skipped.

Then:

  Now argue for A as hard as you can. Then argue for B with exactly
  the same energy. Do not conclude.

Read both. Notice which argument irritated you. That one is usually
true.

Finish with the question that actually decides things:

  What does being wrong about A cost? About B? Which mistake is
  reversible?

Then decide yourself. If you catch yourself asking Pi to confirm the
choice, ask this instead:

  Give me the strongest reason a thoughtful friend would tell me not
  to do this.

Guardrails: not for money you cannot afford to lose, not for medical
or legal decisions, and not when the real blocker is information you
could go and get in an hour.

The failure this prevents: a long agreeable conversation that hands
your own opinion back to you in better wording and calls it advice.

How to install it

1. Open the tool and start a new conversation, project or template.
2. Paste the text below wherever the tool keeps standing instructions
   — usually called system prompt, instructions, or persona.
3. Save it so it applies to every run rather than a single message.

Did it work for you?

Where it came from

Skills app Original