# Incoming Request Advisor

Decode an incoming message into a structured breakdown separating the literal ask from...

- Repository: https://github.com/deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills (7825 stars)
- Category: Engineering
- License: see repository
- Last updated: 2026-10-16
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill incoming-request-advisor -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill incoming-request-advisor -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill incoming-request-advisor -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill incoming-request-advisor -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills`

## Description

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.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

## 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 rest: https://github.com/deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills/blob/HEAD/skills/incoming-request-advisor/SKILL.md