Content Refiner Skill

Transform verbose, redundant educational content into lean, connected lessons.

When to Use

• Content feedback mentions: verbose, redundant, wordy, repetitive
• Lessons feel disconnected or read like standalone blog posts
• Same concept explained multiple ways within a lesson
• "Try With AI" sections have 4+ prompts
• Lessons exceed 1200 words without justification

The Three Enemies

Enemy 1: Verbosity

Symptoms:

• Multiple analogies for the same concept
• "Why This Matters" sections that restate the obvious
• Tables that duplicate paragraph content
• "Reflection" sections that add no value

Treatment:

• ONE analogy per concept maximum
• Cut "Why This Matters" unless it reveals non-obvious insight
• Choose: paragraph OR table, not both
• Delete "Reflection" sections entirely

Enemy 2: Redundancy

Symptoms:

• Concept explained in Lesson N, re-explained in Lesson N+1
• Same information in different formats (paragraph, bullets, table)
• "Expert Insight" callouts restating what was just said
• Multiple lessons that could be one

Treatment:

• Concepts taught ONCE, referenced thereafter
• One format per concept
• Expert Insights only for genuinely advanced perspectives
• Merge lessons that cover same ground

Enemy 3: Disconnection

Symptoms:

• Each lesson reads like standalone article
• No "Previously you learned X, now we build on Y" bridges
• Different examples in each lesson (no running example)
• Conceptual lessons sandwiched between practical ones

Treatment:

• Opening sentence references prior lesson's key takeaway
• ONE running example evolves across the chapter
• Conceptual content folded INTO practical lessons
• Clear skill progression: each lesson adds ONE new capability

Refinement Procedure

Step 1: Measure Current State

Count:
- Total words
- Number of analogies per concept
- Number of "Try With AI" prompts
- Number of tables
- "Reflection" sections present?
- "Expert Insight" callouts

Step 2: Apply Cuts

Mandatory cuts:

1. Delete ALL "Reflection" sections
2. Reduce "Try With AI" to exactly 2 prompts
3. Keep ONE analogy per concept, delete others
4. Delete tables that duplicate paragraph content
5. Cut "Why This Matters" if it only restates the concept

Word targets:

Lesson Type	Target Words
Conceptual intro	600-800
Hands-on practical	800-1000
Installation/setup	400-600
Capstone	1000-1200

Step 3: Strengthen Connections

Opening formula:

# [Lesson Title]

In [Lesson N-1], you [key accomplishment]. Now you'll [this lesson's goal].

Running example rule:

• Identify the chapter's running example
• This lesson MUST use or extend that example
• If introducing new example, it must relate to running example

Step 4: Verify Quality

Checklist:

• Under word limit for lesson type
• One analogy per concept max
• Exactly 2 "Try With AI" prompts
• No "Reflection" section
• Opens with connection to prior lesson
• Uses or extends running example
• No repeated explanations from earlier lessons

Output Format

When refining a lesson, produce:

## Refinement Report: [Lesson Name]

### Metrics
| Before | After |
|--------|-------|
| X words | Y words |
| N analogies | 1 analogy |
| N Try With AI | 2 prompts |

### Key Cuts Made
1. [Deleted section/content and why]
2. [Deleted section/content and why]
3. [Deleted section/content and why]

### Connection Added
- Opening: "[New opening sentence]"
- Running example: [How it connects]

### Refined Content
[Full refined lesson content]

Example: Before/After

BEFORE (verbose):

## Why This Matters

Skills are important because they save you time. When you create a skill,
you're investing once to benefit forever. Think of it like teaching a
friend your preferences. Or like programming a robot. Or like writing
a recipe book. The key insight is that skills encode your expertise.

| Aspect | Without Skills | With Skills |
|--------|---------------|-------------|
| Time | Repeat yourself | Invest once |
| Quality | Inconsistent | Consistent |
| Sharing | Hard | Easy |

As you can see, skills provide significant advantages...

AFTER (lean):

Skills encode your expertise once so Claude applies it automatically.
Instead of explaining your LinkedIn tone every time, teach it once.

Anti-Patterns to Eliminate

1. The Triple Explanation: Paragraph + Table + Analogy for same concept
2. The Standalone Syndrome: Lesson that doesn't reference what came before
3. The Prompt Explosion: 4+ "Try With AI" prompts
4. The Obvious Insight: "Expert Insight" that adds nothing experts wouldn't know
5. The Setup Novel: 3 paragraphs of motivation before getting to content
6. The Example Carousel: New example every lesson instead of building one

Skill Composition

This skill works well with:

• content-implementer: Apply these principles when creating new content
• educational-validator: Validate refined content still meets pedagogical requirements