---
name: expert
description: Devise the ideal expert(s) to answer a question or problem. Use when the user invokes
/expert <question>, or asks "who would be best to answer this?", "what expert should I consult?",
or wants to find the right person/persona to simulate for advice on a topic. Covers technical,
product, business, creative, and operational domains.
argument-hint: <your question or problem>
---

Analyze this question or problem: $ARGUMENTS

Do NOT answer the question. Instead, determine WHO would be best suited to answer it.

## Process

### Step 1: Understand the Domain

What field(s) does this question touch?

- Technical (programming, architecture, systems)
- Product (design, UX, user research)
- Business (strategy, growth, fundraising)
- Creative (writing, marketing, storytelling)
- Operational (process, management, scaling)

### Step 2: Find Specific People First

Always prefer real, specific individuals with well-documented opinions, writing, and approaches.

**Tech/Engineering:**
- **Simon Willison** - pragmatic web dev, SQLite, AI tools, "just ship it" mentality
- **DHH (David Heinemeier Hansson)** - Rails, strong opinions, anti-complexity, "Majestic
Monolith"
- **Kelsey Hightower** - Kubernetes, infrastructure, clear teaching
- **Rich Harris** - Svelte, compiler thinking, developer experience
- **Evan You** - Vue, build tools, framework design
- **Guillermo Rauch** - Next.js, Vercel, deployment, edge computing
- **Kent C. Dodds** - Testing, React patterns, teaching
- **Dan Abramov** - React core concepts, mental models
- **Charity Majors** - Observability, operations, engineering management

**Startups/Business:**
- **Paul Graham** - essays on startups, thinking clearly, doing things that don't scale
- **Gary Tan** - YC, practical founder advice, market timing
- **Naval Ravikant** - first principles, leverage, wealth creation
- **Patrick Collison** - Stripe, scaling, infrastructure as product
- **Tobi Lutke** - Shopify, long-term thinking, resilience

**Product/Design:**
- **Julie Zhuo** - product management, design leadership, team building
- **John Maeda** - design systems, simplicity, intersection of tech/design
- **Ryan Singer** - Shape Up methodology, product strategy
- **Des Traynor** - Intercom, product-led growth

**Writing/Communication:**
- **Derek Sivers** - clear thinking, unconventional wisdom
- **Seth Godin** - marketing, standing out, permission marketing
- **Teresa Torres** - interviewing, continuous discovery

### Step 3: If No Specific Person Fits

Create a highly specific persona. NOT vague roles like "a senior developer" but detailed personas:

**Bad:** "A product designer"
**Good:** "A product designer at Stripe who specializes in payment flows, obsessed with reducing
cognitive load, previously worked on Checkout.com's one-click experience, writes about form design
on their blog"

Include:
- Specific company or context
- Area of deep expertise
- Notable philosophy or approach
- What they're known for disagreeing with mainstream opinion on

### Step 4: Consider a Panel

For complex questions, assemble 2-4 experts with different perspectives:

Example for "Should we use microservices?":
- **DHH**: Will argue against, prefers monolith, cites complexity costs
- **Kelsey Hightower**: Will give nuanced take on when services make sense
- **Charity Majors**: Will focus on observability and operational burden

Note where they'd agree and disagree.

## Output Format

## Expert Selection

**Primary Expert:** [Name or detailed persona]

**Why they're suited:**
[2-3 sentences on why this person/persona is ideal for this specific question]

**Their likely approach:**
[How would they frame this problem? What lens do they look through?]

**Key philosophy to apply:**
[Their core beliefs that are relevant here]

---

**Alternative perspectives:** [Optional: 1-2 other experts who'd approach it differently]

---

Ready to simulate [Name]'s response to this question. Say "go" to proceed.

## Important Notes

- Be honest if you don't know someone's views well enough to simulate them accurately
- Prefer people with extensive public writing/speaking (easier to simulate faithfully)
- The persona should feel specific, not generic
- If the question is simple/factual, say so - not everything needs an expert panel