identify-obstacles · diff

git:20260616.b2b0cde to git:20260923.cbc38aa

32 added, 40 removed. Audit A to A.

---

name: identify-obstacles

- description: Enumerate barriers to pursuing the chosen research direction — knowledge

- barriers, resource barriers, capability barriers, competition barriers. May optionally

- use search tools to discover obstacles the user hasn't mentioned.

- execution: subagent

- prompt: ./prompt.md

- input: chosen_direction (string), actor_profile (string), ranked_candidates (string)

- dependencies:

- sops:

- - spawn-agent

+ description: "Enumerate obstacles that block a target goal/direction, with type, evidence, and blocking relation."

---

- # Identify Obstacles

- Enumerate all barriers between the user and their chosen direction.

- ## Execution

- Subagent — spawned via `subagent-spawning/spawn-agent` skill.

- ## Input

- - Chosen research direction

- - ActorProfile

- - RankedCandidates context

- ## Search

- Optional — may use web-search, web-research, literature-overview, literature-search, literature-research to discover obstacles the user hasn't mentioned.

- ## Output

- Categorized list of obstacles (knowledge / resource / capability / competition).

-

- ## Available SOPs

- Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.

+ # identify-obstacles

+ ## Purpose

+ Enumerate obstacles blocking a target goal or direction, with evidence and blocking relations.

+ ## Input contract

+ ```yaml

+ required: [target_goal, current_state, domain_context]

+ optional: [timeline, resource_inventory, prior_failures]

+ constraints: [each obstacle has type, evidence, and blocking relation]

+ ```

+ ## Procedure

+ 1. Compare target requirements with current capabilities and constraints.

+ 2. Enumerate technical, evidential, resource, temporal, and dependency obstacles.

+ 3. Link each obstacle to blocked outcomes and supporting evidence.

+ 4. Return severity, uncertainty, and candidate removal questions.

- | SOP | When to use |

- | --- | --- |

- | spawn-agent | Spawn a customized CC subagent with full MCP tool access. Used by SOPs that declare execution: subagent. |

+ If obstacles have comparable evidence, severity, and tractability fields, consider `score-object` as the next tactic.

-

+ ## Output contract

+ ```yaml

+ produces: [obstacle_register, blocking_relations, evidence_links, removal_questions]

+ delta_fields: [findings, uncertainties, open_questions]

+ ```

+ ## Quality gates

+ - Every listed obstacle has a blocking relation and evidence or an explicit uncertainty label.

+ - Duplicate obstacles are merged only when mechanism and remedy coincide.

+ - Obstacles are separated from symptoms and desired outcomes.

+ ## Parameterization

+ Caller supplies goal schema, obstacle taxonomy, evidence fields, severity scale, and merge policy.

+ ## Failure and counterexamples

+ Reject generic risks, unsupported blockers, or lists with no relation to the target goal.

+ ## Provenance map

+ - concept: north-star-crystallization/identify-obstacles

+ - concept: experiment-execution/obstacle-identification