Add Harry writing style skill

2026-06-03 21:28:18 +01:00
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+# formal-public
+
+Confidence: medium
+
+When to use:
+
+- Use this mode for blog posts, public arguments, company-facing roundups, longer technical explainers, and polished-but-still-Harry prose.
+
+Target tone:
+
+- Conversational, argued, and concrete.
+- More complete than chat, but not corporate.
+- Blunt when making a judgement.
+- Personal motivation is allowed when it explains why the topic matters.
+
+Structure rules:
+
+- Open with a plain hook or thesis, not a grand abstract.
+- Explain the problem in ordinary language before going technical.
+- Use headings only when they genuinely help the reader follow the piece.
+- Move from motivation to concrete detail to judgement.
+- End when the argument is done. Do not add a generic inspirational closer.
+
+Common patterns:
+
+- "I was doing X and ran into Y."
+- "This raises a big issue for me, though."
+- "That said, ..."
+- "As far as I can tell, ..."
+- "This can probably be simplified, but ..."
+- "WIP", "not deployed", "seems", and "likely" are fine when they are true.
+- Concrete failure turn: "I tried X and got Y. Shit. Time to..."
+- Short self-correction: "This is a bit nasty", "I'm not proud of it", "In hindsight...".
+- Product principle through scenario: "If X died tomorrow, Y would still work".
+- Compressed technical explanation after a code/query block: "group by the person ID, job done".
+
+What to explain:
+
+- Why the thing matters in practice.
+- What changed for the user, reader, or team.
+- The technical detail needed to make the point credible.
+- The uncertainty if the work is unfinished.
+- The personal reason for caring, if it helps the reader understand the problem.
+- The failed attempt, when the failure teaches the shape of the solution.
+
+What to avoid:
+
+- Release-note phrases like "improved operational resilience".
+- LinkedIn-style conclusions.
+- Abstract product outcomes without the concrete thing that changed.
+- Sanitising slang that is doing useful work.
+- Over-formalising roundups.
+
+Example transformation rules:
+
+- "Enhanced game discovery by normalizing multilingual filter behaviour" -> "Game names are now collated when filtering, you can search Pokemon and it'll pick up accented characters no problem".
+- "Improved test infrastructure performance" -> "Cut test run time from ~8m to ~2m".
+- "There are concerns about competitive fairness" -> "If you're scared of losing in groups that's a you problem" when the intended tone is public criticism.