problem-definition

problem-definition is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from liqiongyu/lenny_skills_plus. It costs 30 tokens per session (1,992 once invoked), scanned A, original, Apache-2.0.

A method for clearly describing the user problem a product should solve, including the people affected, existing alternatives, evidence, and measures of success.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to write problem statements, describe Jobs To Be Done, record assumptions, define target users, and set success measures.
Why use it?
It prevents teams from jumping to a solution before agreeing on the real problem and how to recognize progress.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Written for no agent in particular: nothing here depends on one.

Good fit Use it to write problem statements, describe Jobs To Be Done, record assumptions, define target users, and set success measures.

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Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/liqiongyu/lenny_skills_plus/problem-definition
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add liqiongyu/lenny_skills_plus --skill problem-definition
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/liqiongyu/lenny_skills_plus

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for problem-definition

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/liqiongyu/lenny_skills_plus/problem-definition/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/liqiongyu/lenny_skills_plus/problem-definition)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/liqiongyu/lenny_skills_plus/problem-definition"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/liqiongyu/lenny_skills_plus/problem-definition/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for problem-definition

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/liqiongyu/lenny_skills_plus/problem-definition"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/liqiongyu/lenny_skills_plus/problem-definition.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 30 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,992 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00030 $0.01992
Opus 5 $0.00015 $0.00996
Sonnet 5 $0.00006 $0.00398
Haiku 4.5 $0.00003 $0.00199

Measured 9d ago against content hash c4b2375cdbf5, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-12, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

problem-definition scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 9d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

skills/problem-definition/SKILL.md · 138 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 138 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Problem Definition

Scope

Covers

  • Turning a vague idea into a crisp, testable problem definition
  • Writing a shareable problem statement (1-liner + expanded)
  • Capturing Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) and target segments
  • Mapping current alternatives (including non-digital/analog) and “why now / why digital”
  • Building an evidence + assumptions log to drive learning
  • Defining success metrics + guardrails and clear scope boundaries

When to use

  • “Write a problem statement for…”
  • “We need to define the problem space / JTBD.”
  • “We keep jumping to solutions; help us get clear on the real problem.”
  • “Pressure to ‘do AI’ — verify there’s a real pain point first.”
  • “Before we write a PRD, align on what problem we’re solving.”

When NOT to use

  • You already have an approved problem definition and need a delivery-ready PRD (use writing-prds)
  • You need roadmap prioritization across many competing initiatives (use prioritizing-roadmap)
  • You need to set company-level strategy/vision (use defining-product-vision)
  • You need a competitive landscape analysis as the primary output (use competitive-analysis); this skill references alternatives only to frame the problem
  • You’re doing deep research execution (recruiting, interviews, analysis); use this to frame what to learn, not as a substitute for conducting-user-interviews or designing-surveys
  • You need to analyze existing user feedback data (use analyzing-user-feedback); this skill frames the problem, not the evidence pipeline

Inputs

Minimum required

  • Product/context + target user (or segment hypotheses)
  • The triggering signal (customer quotes, data trend, stakeholder request, competitor move)
  • The decision to make (e.g., invest now vs later; explore vs stop) + timeline
  • Known constraints (tech/legal/privacy/compliance/capacity)

Missing-info strategy

  • Ask up to 5 questions from references/INTAKE.md.
  • If still missing, proceed with clearly labeled assumptions and list Open questions that would change the decision.

Read the full file on GitHub · 138 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 9d ago First seen · 138 lines · 30 tokens per session scan A c4b2375cdbf5

Subscribe to this mod's changes

problem-definition is a skill published in the GitHub repository liqiongyu/lenny_skills_plus (52 stars, last pushed 3mo ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 30 tokens to every session and 1,992 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-09-03.

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