Agent skill

Org Design

by cbrock84 in cbrock84/headcount

Designs how an organization is structured — reporting lines, team boundaries, spans and layers, role definition, and workforce planning against the strategy.

MITAuto-check passed

Install Org Design

skills CLI
$ npx skills add cbrock84/headcount --skill org-design -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install cbrock84/headcount org-design --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cbrock84/headcount.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/people/skills/org-design .claude/skills/org-design && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
org-design
GitHub stars
2k
Token cost
~828 tokens
SKILL.md length
461 words
Files
2 (incl. references)
Skills in repo
175
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Designs how an organization is structured — reporting lines, team boundaries, spans and layers, role definition, and workforce planning against the strategy.

  • SKILL.md covers Design from the work, Spans and layers, Ownership and Workforce planning, plus 3 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Org Design is an agent skill from cbrock84/headcount. Designs how an organization is structured — reporting lines, team boundaries, spans and layers, role definition, and workforce planning against the strategy. Use this to structure a new team, restructure an existing one, resolve unclear ownership between teams, plan headcount, or diagnose why a team underperforms for structural rather than individual reasons.

Its SKILL.md is about 830 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 2 other files, including reference files (for example `references/sources.md`).

The repository describes itself as: An agent organization structured as a company — 15+ departments, 125+ skills, each independently installable, citing the standards and regulators that settle the question. Runs… The licence is MIT.

Example prompts

  • “Use the org-design skill to design how an organization is structured — reporting lines, team boundaries, spans and layers, role definition, and…”
  • “/org-design”

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 98d1c17. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Org Design loads about 828 tokens when it runs, and up to ~1.2k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 93 tokens; SKILL.md has 461 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~93
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~828
With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them
~1.2k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from cbrock84/headcount at commit 98d1c17, republished under its MIT licence (© cbrock84). 461 words, ~828 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/org-design/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
org-design
description
Designs how an organization is structured — reporting lines, team boundaries, spans and layers, role definition, and workforce planning against the strategy. Use this to structure a new team, restructure an existing one, resolve unclear ownership between teams, plan headcount, or diagnose why a team underperforms for structural rather than individual reasons.

Org design

Structure determines what is easy and what requires heroics. Most persistent coordination problems are structural and cannot be fixed by asking people to communicate better.

Design from the work

Start with the work that must happen and its natural boundaries — where handoffs are expensive, and where they are cheap. Draw team lines at the cheap handoffs.

Then check: can each team deliver something meaningful without waiting on another? A team that cannot ship without three dependencies is not a team, it is a queue.

Design the org for the work, not around the people currently in it. Then reconcile deliberately, noting where you have compromised and why. Structures built around individuals fail when those individuals leave, and everyone can see they were built that way.

Spans and layers

Wide spans push decisions down and starve people of attention. Narrow spans give attention and breed layers, which add latency to every decision.

Roughly: five to nine reports for a manager whose people need coaching; more where the work is consistent and the people are experienced. Every layer must add decision value — a layer that only passes information along should be removed, and it is usually obvious which one it is.

Ownership

Every outcome has exactly one owner. Where two teams share an outcome, neither owns it, and it fails in the gap. Where an owner lacks the authority to deliver, the accountability is fictional.

Write down the boundaries — what each team decides alone, what needs consultation, what needs approval. Ambiguity between senior teams is expensive and does not resolve itself.

Show full SKILL.md (200 more words)Show less

Workforce planning

Plan roles against the work and the plan, not against last year plus a percentage. For each proposed role: what does not happen without it, what does it take off someone else, and what is the ramp before it contributes?

Sequence hires so each has someone to learn from. Hiring three juniors before the senior who leads them is a common and expensive ordering error.

Restructuring

  • Say why, plainly, and what problem it solves. People fill silence with worse explanations than the truth.
  • Announce the whole change at once. Serial reorganizations cost more in sustained uncertainty than one larger change.
  • Anything touching an individual's role, level, or pay goes through the people function before announcement, without exception.

Sources

references/sources.md in this skill lists the outside authorities that settle the questions here — what each one is authoritative for, and what you may do with it. Check them before answering on anything they cover, and cite what you used. Most are free to read and not free to reproduce; the use note on each is binding.

Never

  • Restructure to avoid a performance conversation.
  • Create a role to retain someone the structure does not need.
  • Leave an outcome with two owners.

© cbrock84, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file (references) in plugins/people/skills/org-design of cbrock84/headcount.

  • SKILL.md
  • references/sources.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 98d1c17

Compare with similar skills

Org Design next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Org Design compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Org Design this skillcbrock84/headcount2k—~828Automated safety check: PassMIT
Power Bi Report Design Consultationgithub/awesome-copilot40k1 repos~2.7kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Design Systemaffaan-m/ECC275k—~698Automated safety check: PassMIT
Design Guidepaperclipai/paperclip99k1 repos~3.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Design Audit Against Rams' Principlesthedotmack/claude-mem98k—~4.6kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Figma Design to Codewarpdotdev/warp65k4 repos~2.9kAutomated safety check: PassAGPL-3.0

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Questions about Org Design

What does Org Design do?

Designs how an organization is structured — reporting lines, team boundaries, spans and layers, role definition, and workforce planning against the strategy. Org Design is an agent skill from cbrock84/headcount. Designs how an organization is structured — reporting lines, team boundaries, spans and layers, role definition, and workforce planning against the strategy.

How do I install Org Design in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add cbrock84/headcount --skill org-design -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/people/skills/org-design in cbrock84/headcount) into .claude/skills/org-design in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Org Design in Codex?

Run `npx skills add cbrock84/headcount --skill org-design -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/people/skills/org-design in cbrock84/headcount) into .agents/skills/org-design in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Org Design in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add cbrock84/headcount --skill org-design -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/org-design, .gemini/skills/org-design, .github/skills/org-design and .opencode/skills/org-design in your project.

What does Org Design need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Org Design is instructions for the agent only.

Does Org Design access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Org Design safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Org Design use?

Org Design is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Org Design use?

About 828 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3.3k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 339 tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.

What are the alternatives to Org Design?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Org Design: Power Bi Report Design Consultation (github/awesome-copilot, 40k stars), Design System (affaan-m/ECC, 275k stars), Design Guide (paperclipai/paperclip, 99k stars) and Design Audit Against Rams' Principles (thedotmack/claude-mem, 98k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Org Design?

cbrock84 (a GitHub user) maintains it in cbrock84/headcount, which has 2,007 GitHub stars. The repository holds 175 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 17, 2026.

Source: cbrock84/headcount on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.