From 30afefecc996f126ca0837c460323309e5b43931 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Matt Pocock Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2026 13:56:16 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] changeset for Negation and Negative Space failure modes Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) --- .changeset/negation-and-negative-space.md | 5 +++++ 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+) create mode 100644 .changeset/negation-and-negative-space.md diff --git a/.changeset/negation-and-negative-space.md b/.changeset/negation-and-negative-space.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a33ed93 --- /dev/null +++ b/.changeset/negation-and-negative-space.md @@ -0,0 +1,5 @@ +--- +"mattpocock-skills": minor +--- + +Add two adjacent Steering failure modes to **`writing-great-skills`**, both about how language you think of as "off" still steers the agent. **Negation** — the _elephant_ — is steering by prohibition: naming what _not_ to do drags the forbidden behaviour into context and makes it _more_ available, not less (_don't think of an elephant_), so the cure is to prompt the **positive**. **Negative Space** — the void — is blindness to the steering done by what you leave _out_: every decision a skill declines is delegated to the agent's priors rather than left neutral, so the cure is to read a draft for its silences and decide each omission deliberately (fill it, or leave it open as a real **branch**). Kept as two entries, not one — they carry different diagnostics and different cures — each a full `GLOSSARY.md` entry plus a `SKILL.md` failure-mode bullet, matching how every other failure mode is carried.