/utility-pm-critic

name: utility-pm-critic
description: Run adversarial review on a PM artifact via the pm-critic sub-agent. Returns findings graded P0/P1/P2/P3 with a concrete fix suggestion per finding and a machine-readable status block. Use after producing a PRD, meeting recap, OKR set, persona, or any PM artifact you want stress-tested before it ships.
license: Apache-2.0
metadata:
  classification: utility
  version: "1.0.1"
  updated: 2026-06-10
  category: review
  frameworks: [triple-diamond]
  author: product-on-purpose

<!-- PM-Skills | https://github.com/product-on-purpose/pm-skills | Apache 2.0 -->

PM Critic (Dispatch Skill)

This skill is a cross-client dispatch wrapper for the `pm-critic` sub-agent. It exists so that users on non-Claude clients can run adversarial review with the same intent as Claude Code users, without depending on native plugin sub-agent infrastructure.

Per master plan D11 (amended) + D30, sub-agents are a Claude Code plugin feature. Non-Claude clients (Codex CLI, Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot, Gemini CLI) cannot natively load `agents/pm-critic.md`. This skill bridges the gap.

When to Use

• You want adversarial review of a PM artifact (PRD, OKR set, persona, lean canvas, meeting recap, interview synthesis, problem statement, hypothesis, edge case catalog, retrospective, etc.)
• You are running on a non-Claude AI client and the `pm-critic` sub-agent is not natively available
• You are running on Claude Code and prefer skill-invocation semantics over sub-agent semantics (e.g., for consistency across a multi-step workflow that mixes skills and sub-agent intents)

When NOT to Use

• You want a structural lint / repo-level audit -> use `utility-pm-skill-auditor` (audits skills + repo state) instead
• You want to author an artifact (this skill only reviews) -> use the appropriate phase skill (deliver-prd, foundation-okr-writer, etc.)
• You want code review -> use a code-review-specific tool (this skill is for PM artifacts)
• You want to enforce style rules like em-dash sweep -> that is `pm-release-conductor`'s G0 gate, not this skill

Instructions

**Runtime detection step.** Determine which AI client is invoking this skill.

If you are running in Claude Code with the pm-skills plugin installed

Invoke `@agent-pm-skills:pm-critic` on the target artifact. Pass the artifact path as argument (or the most recent artifact in session context if no argument is provided). Return the sub-agent's findings to the user. No further action needed from this skill - the sub-agent handles the review natively in its own context window.

If you are running in any other AI client

Codex CLI, Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot, Gemini CLI, ChatGPT, or any other client without native pm-skills plugin sub-agent support:

1. Read the canonical sub-agent definition at `agents/pm-critic.md` 2. Execute the system prompt body in that file as your operating instructions for this turn 3. Read the target PM artifact specified by the user (path from `$ARGUMENTS`, or most recently produced artifact in session) 4. Read the canonical standards docs referenced by the pm-critic system prompt for the artifact type (e.g., `skills/foundation-okr-writer/SKILL.md` for OKR sets, `skills/deliver-prd/SKILL.md` for PRDs) 5. Produce findings graded P0/P1/P2/P3 with concrete fix suggestions, formatted per the output structure documented in `docs/guides/adversarial-review.md` 6. End the output with the layered structure per master plan D26:

• Section (1): full human-readable findings (the P0/P1/P2/P3 report)
• Section (2): `## Status Summary` in prose, summarizing what was found and what the user should do next
• Section (3): `## Status` YAML block with machine-readable fields

Output Format

See `references/TEMPLATE.md` for the canonical output structure (with the layered Status envelope per D26). See `references/EXAMPLE.md` for a worked example showing a real cross-client dispatch run against a PRD.

Composition

• **Skills:** This dispatch skill composes with all PM-artifact-producing skills (deliver-prd, foundation-okr-writer, foundation-meeting-recap, foundation-persona, foundation-lean-canvas, discover-interview-synthesis, etc.). Run any of those, then run this skill on the produced artifact.
• **Sub-agents:** On Claude Code, this skill dispatches to `pm-critic` sub-agent. On non-Claude, this skill IS the inline execution; no further dispatch.
• **Workflows:** `pm-workflow-orchestrator` (shipped v2.24.0) can invoke this skill at quality-gate steps for cross-client compatibility.

Cross-Client Notes

See [Sub-Agent Compatibility Matrix](../../docs/reference/sub-agent-compatibility.md) for the canonical cross-client status of all 4 sub-agents + dispatch skills. Summary for this skill as of v2.16.0: PRODUCTION on Claude Code + Codex CLI; EXPERIMENTAL on Cursor / Windsurf / Copilot CLI / Gemini CLI. Maintainers wanting cross-client confidence on a non-Claude client can re-run the [`maintainer-gate-testing-codex.md`](../../docs/internal/release-plans/v2.16.0/maintainer-gate-testing-codex.md) harness on that client.

The "read and execute inline" pattern depends on the AI being able to:

1. Read a file path provided as a reference (most AI clients support this) 2. Treat that file's content as operating instructions for the current turn (most AI clients support this for SKILL.md-style instructions) 3. Read additional referenced standards docs at invocation time (all major AI clients support this)

If any of these are unreliable on a given client, that client cannot use this dispatch skill effectively.

Reference Files

• Canonical sub-agent definition: [`agents/pm-critic.md`](../../agents/pm-critic.md)
• Behavioral spec: [`docs/internal/release-plans/v2.16.0/spec_pm-critic.md`](../../docs/internal/release-plans/v2.16.0/spec_pm-critic.md)
• User-facing guide: [`docs/guides/adversarial-review.md`](../../docs/guides/adversarial-review.md)
• Runtime components catalog: [`docs/reference/runtime-