Define Good Before Judgment-Heavy Work
AGENT-DEFINE-GOOD-BEFORE-JUDGMENT-HEAVY-WORK
Summary
State the quality bar before work where taste, naming, API shape, or review expectations matter. Clear criteria give the agent goalposts before it creates a large speculative diff.
Rule
Define good before judgment-heavy work.
Why
Agents are weak at guessing taste after the fact. For naming, grouping, documentation voice, review shape, public API design, or rule IDs, define the quality bar before changing the artifact so the agent has goal posts instead of inferred preferences.
Helps
- Produces better first-pass output and reduces rewrites caused by hidden taste criteria.
Limits
Do not over-plan obvious mechanical edits. Use this rule when judgment, aesthetics, compatibility, or review expectations determine whether the output is good.
Agent Instruction
Before naming, grouping, documentation voice, API shape, or rule IDs, define the quality bar so the
agent has concrete goalposts.Mechanisms
Supported by upfront acceptance criteria, examples of accepted output, naming rules, review rubrics, and task prompts that ask what “good” means before execution.