0-research_skill

Overview

This skill provides a practical technical research methodology grounded in YAGNI, KISS, and DRY principles. It guides scoped, repeatable investigations across scope definition, information gathering, analysis, synthesis, and recommendation phases. The goal is concise, actionable technical intelligence for evaluating technologies, architectures, and trade-offs.

How this skill works

I start by defining a tight scope: key terms, recency requirements, and evaluation criteria. I run up to five targeted searches across authoritative sources, validate findings by cross-referencing, and analyze maturity, security, performance, and integration concerns. Finally I synthesize results into a concise report with explicit recommendations, next steps, and citations.

When to use it

• Evaluating new libraries, frameworks, or cloud services before adoption
• Comparing architecture options (monolith vs microservices, serverless vs containers)
• Assessing trade-offs for scalability, security, maintainability, or cost
• Preparing feasibility studies or technology selection reports
• Creating best-practice guidance or migration plans

Best practices

• Define a narrow, measurable scope and stop when criteria are satisfied (YAGNI)
• Prioritize primary sources: official docs, vendor guides, and high-quality changelogs
• Limit external searches to a maximum of five focused queries and parallelize where possible
• Cross-validate claims across independent sources and note any conflicts
• Deliver concise, actionable recommendations with migration steps and risks

Example use cases

• Compare two message brokers for throughput, latency, and operational complexity
• Evaluate an authentication provider for security posture, token lifecycle, and vendor lock-in
• Produce a migration plan from a legacy monolith to a containerized microservice architecture
• Assess trade-offs between managed database tiers for cost, performance, and backup requirements
• Research best practices for CI/CD security and secrets management