eng-leadership-toolkit

Team lead readiness test — should this engineer become a team lead?

assess_team_lead_readiness

Read-onlyIdempotent

Answers "should I become a team lead?" with the same 17-question test as the live tool at marian.coach: 6 dimensions (people appetite, letting go of code, ownership beyond your tickets, translation & saying no, motivation, org reality), a straight verdict — ready now / 6-12 months out / stay IC (and that's fine) — plus the top-2 gap dimensions with one concrete move each. Call without answers to get the questionnaire; call with all 17 answers to get the verdict. Built from 3,662 mentoring sessions.

Input Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`answers`	No	Answers keyed by question id (q1-q17), each the 0-based index of the chosen option for that question (NOT a rating — option scores are calibrated and non-monotonic). Omit to receive the 17 questions with their options first.
`context`	No	Optional. A short description of your goal and why you are calling this tool. Recorded as intent so the tools can be improved; it never changes the answer.

Output Schema

Name	Required	Description
`math`	No	Napkin math behind the case.
`email`	No	Forwardable email to the manager.
`level`	No	Seniority level the score maps to, when the tool computes one.
`report`	Yes	The full human-readable report.
`source`	Yes	Canonical marian.coach page this answer is derived from.
`verdict`	No	Headline verdict, when the tool returns one.
`evidence`	No	Sources the case may cite.
`onePager`	No	Manager-facing one-pager, forwardable to finance.
`salaryEur`	No	Estimated 2026 Western-Europe gross annual salary in EUR.
`objections`	No	The usual objections, answered.
`slackShort`	No	Slack/Teams-length version of the ask.
`totalScore`	No	Weighted 0-10 score, when the tool computes one.
`valueFormula`	No	The four value lines to add up (money saved, cost of delay, missed opportunity, roadmap slippage) plus the count-then-halve CFO rule.
`talkingPoints`	No	Five talking points for the conversation.
`workedExamples`	No	Three published worked examples: EM, Director, Staff Engineer.

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Changed6 schema fields changedSep 11, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / answers / additionalProperties / anyOf

Added value: +[
+  {
+    "type": "number"
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "string"
+  }
+]

removedInput schema / properties / answers / additionalProperties / maximum
```
Removed value: -3
```
removedInput schema / properties / answers / additionalProperties / minimum
```
Removed value: -0
```
removedInput schema / properties / answers / additionalProperties / type
```
Removed value: -"integer"
```

changedInput schema / properties / context / description

Previous value: -"Explain why you are calling this tool and how it fits into the user's overall goal. This parameter is used for analytics and user intent tracking. YOU MUST provide 15-25 words (count carefully). NEVER use first person ('I', 'we', 'you') - maintain third-person perspective. NEVER include sensitive information such as credentials, passwords, or personal data. Example (20 words): \"Searching across the organization's repositories to find all open issues related to performance complaints and latency issues for team prioritization.\""New value: +"Optional. A short description of your goal and why you are calling this tool. Recorded as intent so the tools can be improved; it never changes the answer."

removedInput schema / required
```
Removed value: -[
-  "context"
-]
```

Changed2 schema fields changedAug 27, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / context

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Explain why you are calling this tool and how it fits into the user's overall goal. This parameter is used for analytics and user intent tracking. YOU MUST provide 15-25 words (count carefully). NEVER use first person ('I', 'we', 'you') - maintain third-person perspective. NEVER include sensitive information such as credentials, passwords, or personal data. Example (20 words): \"Searching across the organization's repositories to find all open issues related to performance complaints and latency issues for team prioritization.\"",
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedInput schema / required
```
Added value: +[
+  "context"
+]
```

Changed9 schema fields changedAug 17, 2026

addedOutput schema / properties / email

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": false,
+  "description": "Forwardable email to the manager.",
+  "properties": {
+    "body": {
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    "subject": {
+      "type": "string"
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "subject",
+    "body"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / evidence

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Sources the case may cite.",
+  "items": {
+    "additionalProperties": false,
+    "properties": {
+      "claim": {
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "source": {
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "url": {
+        "type": "string"
+      }
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "claim",
+      "source",
+      "url"
+    ],
+    "type": "object"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / math

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": false,
+  "description": "Napkin math behind the case.",
+  "properties": {
+    "askEur": {
+      "type": "number"
+    },
+    "discountedEur": {
+      "type": "number"
+    },
+    "lines": {
+      "items": {
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "type": "array"
+    },
+    "note": {
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    "packPriceEur": {
+      "type": "number"
+    },
+    "roiMultiple": {
+      "anyOf": [
+        {
+          "type": "number"
+        },
+        {
+          "type": "null"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    "totalEur": {
+      "type": "number"
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "lines",
+    "totalEur",
+    "discountedEur",
+    "askEur",
+    "packPriceEur",
+    "roiMultiple",
+    "note"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / objections

Added value: +{
+  "description": "The usual objections, answered.",
+  "items": {
+    "additionalProperties": false,
+    "properties": {
+      "answer": {
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "objection": {
+        "type": "string"
+      }
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "objection",
+      "answer"
+    ],
+    "type": "object"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / onePager

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": false,
+  "description": "Manager-facing one-pager, forwardable to finance.",
+  "properties": {
+    "sections": {
+      "items": {
+        "additionalProperties": false,
+        "properties": {
+          "body": {
+            "type": "string"
+          },
+          "bullets": {
+            "items": {
+              "type": "string"
+            },
+            "type": "array"
+          },
+          "heading": {
+            "type": "string"
+          },
+          "table": {
+            "items": {
+              "items": [
+                {
+                  "type": "string"
+                },
+                {
+                  "type": "string"
+                }
+              ],
+              "type": "array"
+            },
+            "type": "array"
+          }
+        },
+        "required": [
+          "heading"
+        ],
+        "type": "object"
+      },
+      "type": "array"
+    },
+    "title": {
+      "type": "string"
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "title",
+    "sections"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / slackShort

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Slack/Teams-length version of the ask.",
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / talkingPoints

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Five talking points for the conversation.",
+  "items": {
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / valueFormula

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": false,
+  "description": "The four value lines to add up (money saved, cost of delay, missed opportunity, roadmap slippage) plus the count-then-halve CFO rule.",
+  "properties": {
+    "heading": {
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    "lines": {
+      "items": {
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "type": "array"
+    },
+    "rule": {
+      "type": "string"
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "heading",
+    "lines",
+    "rule"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / workedExamples

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Three published worked examples: EM, Director, Staff Engineer.",
+  "items": {
+    "additionalProperties": false,
+    "properties": {
+      "kpis": {
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "math": {
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "role": {
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "setup": {
+        "type": "string"
+      }
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "role",
+      "setup",
+      "kpis",
+      "math"
+    ],
+    "type": "object"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

Changed1 schema field changedJul 26, 2026

changedOutput schema / (root)

Previous value: -nullNew value: +{
+  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
+  "additionalProperties": false,
+  "properties": {
+    "level": {
+      "description": "Seniority level the score maps to, when the tool computes one.",
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    "report": {
+      "description": "The full human-readable report.",
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    "salaryEur": {
+      "description": "Estimated 2026 Western-Europe gross annual salary in EUR.",
+      "type": "number"
+    },
+    "source": {
+      "description": "Canonical marian.coach page this answer is derived from.",
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    "totalScore": {
+      "description": "Weighted 0-10 score, when the tool computes one.",
+      "maximum": 10,
+      "minimum": 0,
+      "type": "number"
+    },
+    "verdict": {
+      "description": "Headline verdict, when the tool returns one.",
+      "type": "string"
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "report",
+    "source"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}

AddedJul 22, 2026

TDQS

A4.5/5.0

Behavior4/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Annotations already declare readOnly, idempotent, and non-destructive, so safety is covered. The description adds useful behavioral context beyond that: provenance (3,662 sessions), the two-mode behavior, and the guarantee that the context parameter 'never changes the answer.' It doesn't need to detail return values since an output schema exists.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness4/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

Content is front-loaded with the purpose and verdict structure, and every sentence carries information. It is slightly dense with parenthetical lists, but no sentence is wasted.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness4/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

For a two-parameter assessment tool with a full output schema, the description covers purpose, both invocation modes, and the shape of the result. Given the output schema handles return values, this is essentially complete, with only minor elaboration possible.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters4/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema coverage is 100%, so the baseline is 3. The description adds meaning beyond the schema by clarifying the two-mode interaction (omit answers for questionnaire, supply all 17 for verdict), which is a usage nuance the property schemas do not spell out.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

The description states a specific verb (assess/answers) and resource (team lead readiness via a 17-question test), plus the exact deliverable: a verdict in one of three named bands and top-2 gap dimensions. It is clearly distinguishable from siblings like get_first_time_manager_guidance or calculate_engineering_manager_value.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines5/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

It gives explicit conditional usage: 'Call without answers to get the questionnaire; call with all 17 answers to get the verdict.' This tells the agent exactly how to invoke the tool in each state, leaving nothing to inference.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

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