refinement

Team Refinement

Team-based adversarial spec refinement using Agent Teams. This evolves dm-work:dialectical-refinement from sequential pipeline to live debate.

Why Teams > Pipeline

The original dialectical-refinement runs 5 sequential phases (Analyst->Proposer->Advocate->Scope Lock->Judge) where each phase sees only the previous output. This prevents self-reinforcing mistakes but loses the back-and-forth of genuine argument. With Agent Teams, debaters are persistent -- the Advocate can push back on the Proposer while the Proposer is still formulating, creating richer adversarial tension.

When to Use

Complexity	Mechanism
xs/s	Skip refinement entirely
m	Use dm-work:dialectical-refinement (2-phase, lightweight)
l/xl	Use refinement (full debate)

Team Composition

Role	Teammate	Model	Purpose
Analyst	Teammate 1	haiku	Surface ambiguity, identify gaps, tag protected items
Proposer	Teammate 2	opus	Propose simplifications and cuts with confidence levels
Advocate	Teammate 3	opus	Challenge cuts, defend scope, suggest cheap additions
Judge	Lead	opus	Moderate debate, enforce scope lock, synthesize final spec

Protected Categories

Same as dm-work:dialectical-refinement — Core Workflow, Agent Primitives, User-Requested Features, Token Efficiency, Structured Output. Tag these early; Proposer does not propose cutting them.

Debate Protocol

Phase 1 -- Analysis (Analyst teammate)

• Read the spec/bead
• Surface ambiguity, undefined terms, implicit dependencies
• Tag protected items
• Share analysis with team

Phase 2 -- Live Debate (Proposer + Advocate, simultaneous)

• Proposer reviews analysis, proposes cuts with confidence (Strong/Moderate/Weak)
• Advocate receives proposals and challenges each one
• They message each other directly -- genuine back-and-forth
• Lead monitors for convergence (when new messages add <10% new information)

Phase 3 -- Scope Lock (Lead)

• Verify essential scope preserved using "Too Thin" indicators:
  • Fewer than 5 commands/features for a system?
  • Removed structured output (--json)?
  • Removed range/anchor/batch capabilities?
  • All m+ tasks cut to xs/s?
• If 2+ indicators trigger, tell Advocate to argue harder, resume debate
• HITL checkpoint: Use AskUserQuestion if significant scope decisions remain

Phase 4 -- Synthesis (Lead)

• Resolve remaining debates
• Write concrete implementation details
• Define testable acceptance criteria
• Document OUT OF SCOPE explicitly
• Quality gate: GO / GO with caveats / REVISE

Output Format

Same as dialectical-refinement for compatibility:

## Introduction
[What + Why in 2-3 sentences]

## Scope
[What's being built]

## Acceptance Criteria
[Testable outcomes]

## Out of Scope
[Explicit boundaries]

## Appendix A: Project Context (if needed)
[Token-efficient big picture: ~100-200 words max]

Anti-patterns

• Proposer and Advocate agreeing too quickly -- reframe perspectives
• Analyst doing too much work -- keep analysis phase fast with haiku
• Lead implementing during debate -- stay in delegate mode
• Skipping scope lock -- Too Thin indicators exist for a reason
• Running team refinement for xs/s tasks -- use subagent pipeline or skip

Related Skills

• dm-work:dialectical-refinement - Sequential alternative
• dm-team:council - General deliberation
• dm-team:compositions - Team template