challenge-operation

Business

Non-threatening 'Why?' questioning of current practices (de Bono Challenge)

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/yogsoth-ai/de-anthropocentric-research-engine/blob/HEAD/skills/challenge-operation/SKILL.md

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Challenge Operation

Apply de Bono's Challenge technique: non-threatening questioning of why things are done the way they are. Not criticism — genuine curiosity about whether current approaches are the only way.

State Ledger

Resource	Target	%
web-search	20	0%
web-research	8	0%
paper-overview	20	0%
paper-search	12	0%
paper-research	5	0%

HARD-GATE

Cannot exit strategy until ≥80% of each budget line is consumed OR yield targets are met with justification for remaining budget.

Available Tactics

Tactic	Role
concept-hierarchy	Organize challenged practices into concept levels

Available SOPs

SOP	Role
challenge-questioning	Apply non-threatening 'Why?' to current practices
escape-technique	Escape from dominant patterns revealed by challenge
alternatives-generation	Generate alternatives to challenged practices
lateral-synthesis	Synthesize challenge operation outputs

Execution Guidance

List practices: Identify current practices, methods, and assumptions
Challenge each: Apply challenge-questioning SOP — "Why is it done this way?"
Distinguish: Separate necessary constraints from historical accidents
Escape: For historical accidents, use escape-technique to find alternatives
Generate alternatives: Produce concrete alternatives to challenged practices
Synthesize: Produce structured output via lateral-synthesis

Available Tactics

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

Tactic	When to use
concept-hierarchy	Build concept levels from purpose through concepts to ideas, with escape and fractionation at each level.

Available SOPs

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

SOP	When to use
alternatives-generation	Generate alternatives for every known approach — ensure no approach goes unchallenged.
challenge-questioning	Non-threatening 'Why?' questioning of current practices to reveal historical accidents vs. genuine constraints.
escape-technique	Identify dominant thinking pattern and escape it via deliberate pattern-breaking.
lateral-synthesis	Synthesize all lateral thinking intermediate outputs into a structured idea report.