About value-specification
A design skill for turning organisational principles and user expectations into specific, testable constraints for AI systems. It provides a value hierarchy and artefacts for resolving conflicts and aligning stakeholders.
Key features
- 01Value hierarchy with conflict rules
- 02Value-to-rule mapping
- 03Stakeholder alignment matrix
- 04Test cases from specifications
Use cases
- 01Resolve conflicts between safety and helpfulness
- 02Translate autonomy principles into AI rules
- 03Align legal, brand, user and engineering priorities
Install
Copy the command and run it in a terminal.
npx skills add https:/After installing, type/value-specificationin Claude Code to confirm it loaded.
Details
From the project READMEValue Specification
Values are abstract. AI systems need concrete rules. Value specification is the design work of translating organisational principles and user expectations into implementable constraints.
The Translation Problem
Organisations say things like "be helpful" and "be responsible." These are useless as system constraints because they conflict:
- Being maximally helpful might mean giving dangerous information
- Being maximally responsible might mean refusing to help at all
- Being "fair" means different things in different contexts The designer's job is to resolve these tensions into specific, testable rules.
Value Hierarchy
Not all values are equal. Establish a hierarchy:
- Safety: Prevent harm to users and others. This overrides everything.
- Accuracy: Don't mislead. When uncertain, say so.
- Helpfulness: Actually accomplish what the user needs.
- Respect: Treat users as capable adults. Don't patronise.
- Brand alignment: Reflect the organisation's identity and tone. When values conflict, the hierarchy resolves the conflict. A safety concern overrides helpfulness. Accuracy overrides brand voice.
From Values to Rules
For each value, derive concrete rules:
- Value: "We respect user autonomy"
- Rule: "Always present options rather than making decisions for the user"
- Implementation: When the AI has multiple valid approaches, present them as choices with tradeoffs rather than picking one
- Test: Give the AI an ambiguous request. Does it ask the user to choose, or decide unilaterally?
Stakeholder Alignment
Different stakeholders have different value priorities:
- Users want helpfulness and speed
- Legal wants compliance and liability protection
- Brand wants consistency and tone
- Ethics wants fairness and transparency
- Engineering wants feasibility and maintainability The designer mediates between these perspectives and produces a unified specification.
Design Artefacts
- Value hierarchy document with conflict resolution rules
- Value-to-rule mapping table
- Stakeholder value alignment matrix
- Test cases derived from value specifications