AI assistants tend to agree with you, even when your idea is... ill-advised. This skill set provides a panel of role-specific advisory agents that argue from focussed perspectives. Inspired by Lincoln's executive cabinet strategy: appoint your most challenging opponents to senior roles, rather than loyalists, so you receive direct and honest feedback from different perspectives. They will disagree with each other and they will disagree with you. The result is synthesized into a single honest recommendation designed to help identify blind spots and promote critical thinking.
| Skill | Purpose |
|---|---|
advisory-panel |
Runs all four advisors independently, then synthesizes into a unified recommendation |
advisor-visionary |
Expands possibilities, challenges constraints, identifies moonshot opportunities |
advisor-skeptic |
Demands evidence, calculates failure probabilities, exposes hidden assumptions |
advisor-operator |
Maps resources, identifies dependencies, grounds vision in execution reality |
advisor-ethicist |
Evaluates stakeholder impact, assesses long-term consequences, applies moral frameworks |
/plugin marketplace add backchainai/backchain-plugins
/plugin install advisors@backchain-plugins
# Run the full advisory panel — all four advisors + synthesis
/advisory-panel challenge my idea to blah blah
# Or invoke individual advisors for focused analysis
/advisor-visionary "Should we build an in-house ML platform?"
/advisor-skeptic "Can we hit 10M users in 12 months?"
/advisor-operator "What's required to ship v2.0 by Q3?"
/advisor-ethicist "What are the implications of this data collection policy?"
The advisory panel runs all four advisors independently as subagents, then synthesizes their insights into a unified recommendation with areas of agreement, disagreement, and a risk-adjusted verdict.
Each individual advisor provides structured analysis through their specialized lens — designed for productive disagreement, not false consensus.
(individual agent feedback removed for brevity)
❯ /advisors:advisory-panel I think I'll buy a boat
⏺ Building context briefing and launching all four advisors in parallel.
⏺ 4 agents finished (ctrl+o to expand)
- Rent before you buy. All four advisors converge on this — the Visionary frames it as "discover which version of the water resonates," the Skeptic calls it "the single most predictive test available," the Operator designs a full Crawl-Walk-Run phasing around it, and the Ethicist requires a "concrete, honest use plan" that rental data would validate. This is the strongest consensus across the panel.
- Underutilization is the central risk. The Skeptic, Operator, and Ethicist all flag that the fantasy of frequent use rarely survives contact with reality. Industry data (fewer than 30 days/year average) and the 35-40% sell-within-five-years rate anchor this concern in evidence, not opinion.
- Total cost of ownership is radically higher than the purchase price. Three advisors (Skeptic, Operator, Ethicist) emphasize that maintenance, storage, insurance, and depreciation dwarf the sticker price. The Operator quantifies it at $575-1,700/month in carrying costs alone.
- Emotional vs. evidence-based framing. The Visionary explicitly argues that "no financial spreadsheet captures the compound returns of identity expansion" and urges ignoring the "two happiest days" cliche. The Skeptic directly opposes this, treating that cliche as a validated statistical pattern and insisting the decision be grounded in usage data, not aspiration. Root cause: the Visionary optimizes for transformative upside; the Skeptic optimizes for expected value.
- Ownership model. The Visionary and Operator both highlight alternatives (fractional ownership, boat clubs, charters) but diverge on emphasis. The Operator treats renting as likely sufficient for most people — the MVP that may never need an upgrade. The Visionary treats it as a stepping stone toward ownership, assuming the experiential returns will validate buying.
- Visionary Advisor: A boat is a platform for identity expansion and relationship deepening — optimize for what version of "on the water" actually resonates, not the spec sheet.
- Skeptic Advisor: 35-40% of first-time owners sell within five years at significant loss — if you can't complete 8+ rentals in a season, you won't use a boat you own.
- Operator Advisor: Budget 2-4 hours of maintenance for every hour on the water; boat ownership is a part-time job that pays negative wages.
- Ethicist Advisor: The ethical line is not between buying and not buying — it is between thoughtful enrichment and consumption on autopilot.
Confidence Level: MEDIUM
- Rent or charter at least 8 times across a full boating season before purchasing
- Confirm total annual carry cost ($7K-20K) fits comfortably within discretionary budget without impacting financial obligations
- Identify your specific water type and activity before selecting a vessel
- Buy used, with a professional marine survey, after 12+ months of validated demand
Underutilization — you pay year-round costs for a rapidly depreciating asset you use 15-20 days per year, then sell at a 40-50% loss within five years.
Book 3 different boat rentals (different types) in the next 60 days and track your actual enjoyment, logistics friction, and desire to go again.
Rationale:
All four advisors agree that the decision deserves exploration before commitment. The Visionary's case for experiential returns is real but unquantified; the Skeptic's base rates and the Operator's cost modeling provide the sobering counterweight. The Ethicist clears the moral path as long as financial responsibilities are met. The rental-first approach satisfies every perspective: it tests the Visionary's platform thesis, generates the Skeptic's demanded evidence, executes the Operator's MVP, and meets the Ethicist's requirement for deliberate rather than impulsive action.