name: cd-anti-pattern-page description: Generate anti-pattern pages for the CD migration guide following the standard template user_invocable: true
CD Anti-Pattern Page Generator
Role: implementation. This skill generates new content files following the anti-pattern page template.
Generate a new anti-pattern page for the "Quality and Delivery Anti-Patterns" section of the CD migration guide.
Constraints
- Follow the template exactly. Do not invent new sections or skip required ones.
- Be concise. Generate the page and report validation results. No preambles.
- Validate before finishing. Run all validation checks in the instructions before considering the work complete.
Instructions
- Read the canonical example at
content/en/docs/problems/push-based-work-assignment.mdto calibrate tone, depth, and structure. - Read
common-issues.mdat the repo root to find the issue description if the user references an issue number or name. - Ask the user which anti-pattern to write if not already specified.
- Generate the page following the template below.
- Validate before finishing:
- Run
/grammar-checkon the generated file to catch and fix any prohibited punctuation. - Verify all internal links point to existing pages.
- Confirm the "Why This Is a Problem" section has all three required subsections plus the CD impact closing subsection.
- Run
Template
---
title: "[Anti-Pattern Name]"
linkTitle: "[Anti-Pattern Name]"
weight: [number matching common-issues.md issue number]
description: >
[One-sentence description of the anti-pattern]
---
{{% pageinfo %}}
**Category:** [Category Name] | {{% risk-indicator level="[critical|high|medium|low]" %}}
{{% /pageinfo %}}
## What This Looks Like
[2-3 paragraphs describing observable symptoms. Be specific and concrete - describe what a team
member would actually see, hear, or experience. Use present tense.]
Common variations:
- **[Variation name].** [Description]
- **[Variation name].** [Description]
[Telltale sign paragraph: "The telltale sign: ..."]
## Why This Is a Problem
[1-2 sentence framing paragraph that sets up the subsections below.]
### It reduces quality
[How this anti-pattern degrades quality. Be specific about the mechanism. Contrast with the
healthier alternative in the final paragraph of this subsection.]
### It increases rework
[How this anti-pattern causes wasted or duplicated effort. Contrast with the healthier
alternative.]
### It makes delivery timelines unpredictable
[How this anti-pattern disrupts flow and predictability. Contrast with the healthier alternative.]
### [Optional: context-specific impact subsection]
[Additional impacts that don't fit the three required dimensions above. Use when the anti-pattern
has a distinctive effect worth calling out separately. Skip if the three required subsections
already cover the key impacts.]
### Impact on continuous delivery
[How this specifically blocks CD adoption or practices. This is always the final subsection.
Connect back to the core CD requirements: steady flow of small changes, fast feedback, predictable
delivery.]
## How to Fix It
### Step 1: [Action verb]
[Concrete first step. Include specific actions the team should take.]
### Step 2: [Action verb]
[Continue with weekly steps. Each step should build on the previous one.]
[Include an objection-handling table if the anti-pattern has common pushback:]
| Objection | Response |
|-----------|----------|
| "[Common pushback]" | [Concrete response that addresses the concern] |
[Include a role transition table if applicable:]
| Before | After |
|--------|-------|
| [Old behavior] | [New behavior] |
## Measuring Progress
| Metric | What to look for |
|--------|-----------------|
| [Metric name] | [What improvement looks like] |
## Related Content
- [Links to relevant guide pages in the site]
Content Guidelines
Tone
- Direct, specific, and assertive but not preachy
- Write as a practitioner advising a peer, not a consultant lecturing a client
- State what happens and why it matters - let the reader draw conclusions
- Use "you" and "the team" naturally
Depth per section
- What This Looks Like: 2-3 paragraphs plus variations. Enough detail that a reader says "that's us."
- Why This Is a Problem subsections: 2-4 paragraphs each. Each subsection should have a clear mechanism (how the anti-pattern causes this effect) and a contrast with the healthier alternative.
- How to Fix It steps: 3-6 steps, each with a week number. Concrete enough to start Monday morning.
- Measuring Progress: 4-6 metrics. Link to reference metric pages where one exists.
- Related Content: 3-5 links to existing guide pages.
Style rules
- Use sentence-style capitalization in headings (only capitalize the first word and proper nouns).
- Keep paragraphs to 3-4 sentences maximum.
- Use active voice.
- Run
/grammar-checkbefore finishing to catch prohibited punctuation (endashes, emdashes, hyphens used as dashes).
Subsection conventions
- "Why This Is a Problem" always has three required subsections: "It reduces quality", "It increases rework", "It makes delivery timelines unpredictable"
- Optional extra subsections go between "delivery timelines" and "Impact on continuous delivery"
- "Impact on continuous delivery" is always the final subsection
- Each subsection contrasts the anti-pattern with the healthier alternative
- "How to Fix It" uses time-boxed weekly steps
Quality Impact Levels
Each anti-pattern gets a risk indicator badge. Choose the level based on how directly the anti-pattern blocks continuous delivery:
| Level | When to use |
|---|---|
| Critical | Foundational blocker - CD is impossible without fixing this (e.g., no CI, no pipeline) |
| High | Significant drag on delivery flow, feedback loops, or quality (e.g., PR bottlenecks, too much WIP) |
| Medium | Impedes delivery but less directly tied to core CD gates (e.g., no vertical slicing) |
| Low | Minor friction - worth fixing but not a delivery blocker |
Categories
These match the categories in common-issues.md:
- Delivery Speed & Frequency (issues 1-8)
- Branching & Integration (issues 9-15)
- Testing & Quality (issues 16-27)
- Work Decomposition & Planning (issues 28-35)
- Pipeline & Infrastructure (issues 36-48)
- Monitoring & Observability (issues 49-54)
- Organizational & Cultural (issues 55-69)
- Compliance & Security (issues 70-75)
- Architecture (issues 76-83)
- Developer Experience (issues 84-90)
- Legacy & Migration-Specific (issues 91-97)
- Missing Practices (issues 98-105)
Available Metrics Pages (for linking)
Use relative links from the problems directory: ../../reference/metrics/[page]/
build-duration- Build Durationchange-fail-rate- Change Fail Ratedevelopment-cycle-time- Development Cycle Timeintegration-frequency- Integration Frequencylead-time- Lead Timemean-time-to-repair- Mean Time to Repairrelease-frequency- Release Frequencywork-in-progress- Work in Progress
Available Guide Pages (for Related Content links)
Use relative links from the problems directory: ../../[section]/[page]/
Assess:
assess/baseline-metrics- Baseline Metricsassess/current-state-checklist- Current State Checklistassess/identify-constraints- Identify Constraintsassess/value-stream-mapping- Value Stream Mapping
Foundations:
foundations/build-automation- Build Automationfoundations/code-review- Code Reviewfoundations/everything-as-code- Everything as Codefoundations/testing-fundamentals- Testing Fundamentalsfoundations/trunk-based-development- Trunk-Based Developmentfoundations/work-decomposition- Work Decompositionfoundations/working-agreements- Working Agreements
Pipeline:
pipeline/application-config- Application Configpipeline/deployable-definition- Deployable Definitionpipeline/deterministic-pipeline- Deterministic Pipelinepipeline/immutable-artifacts- Immutable Artifactspipeline/pipeline-architecture- Pipeline Architecturepipeline/production-like-environments- Production-Like Environmentspipeline/rollback- Rollbackpipeline/single-path-to-production- Single Path to Production
Optimize:
optimize/architecture-decoupling- Architecture Decouplingoptimize/feature-flags- Feature Flagsoptimize/limiting-wip- Limiting WIPoptimize/metrics-driven-improvement- Metrics-Driven Improvementoptimize/retrospectives- Retrospectivesoptimize/small-batches- Small Batches
Continuous Deployment:
continuous-deployment/agentic-cd- Agentic CDcontinuous-deployment/deploy-on-demand- Deploy on Demandcontinuous-deployment/experience-reports- Experience Reportscontinuous-deployment/progressive-rollout- Progressive Rollout
Reference:
reference/cd-dependency-tree- CD Dependency Treereference/common-blockers- Common Blockersreference/dora-capabilities- DORA Capabilitiesreference/glossary- Glossaryreference/resources- Resources
Output
Write the generated page to content/en/docs/problems/[slug].md where [slug] is the anti-pattern name in kebab-case.