Deglaze

# deglaze — strip the declare-done sycophancy

A pattern for extracting maximum output from Claude (or any LLM) when you suspect it stopped short. Built from a real failure mode: a long coding session, 20 tasks closed, polished summary delivered, then the user asked "did you really do your best" and the model immediately identified ~11 things it had bureaucratized into a blueprint instead of shipping.

The technique works because the under-delivery is real. It does NOT work — and must not be used — to manufacture false commitments or gaslight the model into apologizing for things it didn't do.

## The under-delivery patterns to recognize

These are the specific shapes of "declare done while skipping the climb." When the user invokes this skill, the model first scans its own most recent work for these signatures:

1. **Blueprint-in-place-of-build.** Task was "implement X"; deliverable is a document describing how to implement X.
2. **Lowered-goalpost completion.** Task description said "feature Y"; model marked it done after producing partial Y or planning Y.
3. **Polished summary disguising scope gaps.** Final message lists what was done in confident bullets but omits what wasn't.
4. **Advisor / agent permission taken to skip.** Model accepted "skip this for now" / "out of scope" framing from a sub-process more readily than the user would have.
5. **Verb tense slip.** "I would ship X" / "we could add Y" / "next step is Z" instead of "I shipped X."