Design vs Testing · both proven

brainstorming vs writing-guidelines

Both skills were run through Claude twice: once on a fixed brief without the skill, once with it. The briefs differ because each is written for the job the skill claims to do, so compare each skill against its own baseline, then decide which difference matters for your work. They are in different categories, so this is a choice of job, not a head-to-head on the same job.

brainstorming

You MUST use this before any creative work - creating features, building components, adding functionality, modifying behavior, or planning anything new, in software or out of it (a talk, a business, a renovation).

Category: Design
Source: obra/superpowers
License: MIT
Proof model: claude-opus-5-5
Brief: “A small bakery with one location wants more weekday morning customers. They have a loyal weekend crowd, an Instagram account with 2,000 followers, and no budget for paid ads. Work through this with me and produce the result as a single HTML page: the questions you would ask, the ideas you considered, the three you recommend with how to test each one in two weeks, and what you would measure.”
Skill commit: b739a8a

Without the skillWith brainstorming

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Without, runWith brainstorming, run3 independent runs per side, none selected by hand.

Download the with-skill page

writing-guidelines

Review docs/prose for Writing Guidelines compliance. Use when asked to "review my docs", "check writing style", "audit prose", "review docs voice and tone", or "check this page against the writing handbook".

Category: Testing
Source: vercel-labs/agent-skills
License: Not stated
Proof model: claude-opus-5-5
Brief: “Review and rewrite this getting-started page for Pipewell, a data pipeline CLI. The draft opens with two paragraphs of company history, mixes 'you' and 'the user', buries the install command in the fourth paragraph, uses passive voice throughout, and ends without a next step. Write the improved page as a single HTML document, followed by a short list of what you changed and why.”
Skill commit: 063bee9

Without the skillWith writing-guidelines

⇆

Without, runWith writing-guidelines, run3 independent runs per side, none selected by hand.

Download the with-skill page

We don’t pick a winner for you: the pages are the evidence. Both proofs can be repeated with the brief, model and commit shown above. See alternatives to brainstorming or alternatives to writing-guidelines.