trade-off-analysislisted

# Trade-Off Analysis — Quick Structured Comparison ## What This Skill Does This skill provides a **fast, structured comparison** of 2-3 known options. It's the lightweight alternative to Tree of Thought — use it when the options are already on the table and the user wants clarity, not discovery. The output is a single, scannable analysis that a busy person can read in 2-3 minutes and walk away with a clear recommendation. ## When to Use This Skill Use when: - The user has 2-3 specific options and wants help choosing - The decision is important enough to think through but not complex enough for ToT/GoT - Time pressure favours speed over exhaustive exploration - The user says "should I X or Y?" or "compare these for me" - A decision point surfaced during requirements elicitation, research, or spec writing and needs a quick resolution Do NOT use when: - The user hasn't identified options yet (use tree-of-thought to generate them) - The problem has deep interdependencies (use graph-of-thought) - There are more than 3 options to compare (use tree-of-thought) - The user wants open-ended brainstorming, not a comparison --- ## Process ### Step 1 — Confirm the Options and Context State the options being compared and the context that matters. If the user hasn't specified evaluation criteria, infer 4-6 relevant ones from the context. Common dimensions include: cost, complexity, speed to value, maintainability, scalability, risk, reversibility, team capability fit. Keep th