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docs: add validation steps to Quick Start README (#285)#286

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diberry:squad/new-customer-docs-1
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docs: add validation steps to Quick Start README (#285)#286
diberry wants to merge 1 commit intobradygaster:mainfrom
diberry:squad/new-customer-docs-1

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@diberry diberry commented Mar 8, 2026

Closes #285

What

Adds one-line ✓ Validate steps after each command block in the Quick Start section (README lines 20-68), giving new users immediate confidence that each step worked before moving on.

Changes

Step Validation added
1. Create project git status → 'No commits yet'
2. Install Squad Check .squad/team.md was created
3. Authenticate gh auth status → 'Logged in to github.com'
4. Open Copilot Squad responds with team proposals

Why

This is Quick Win #1 (P0) from a new-user experience audit that found Squad's docs are expert-biased and discovery-hostile:

  • 40-50% estimated abandonment rate — 60% of GitHub Discussions questions are 'How do I start?' or 'It's not working'
  • Root cause: No validation steps between commands — users don't know if installation succeeded until they hit an error
  • Impact: Reduces abandonment by giving users confidence at each step. Estimated 10 minutes of user time saved per onboarding attempt.

The audit benchmarked against Vercel, Supabase, Stripe, and Astro docs — all use 'did it work?' validation after every install step. Squad's Quick Start was the only one that didn't.

Review notes

  • No code changes — documentation only
  • PAO (DevRel agent) authored the validation copy
  • Suggested reviewers: @diberry (primary), @bradygaster

Add validation steps to Quick Start section in README

After each command in the Quick Start (lines 20-61), added a
validation step so users can confirm the command succeeded. This
gives users confidence at each step and reduces abandonment when
they're unsure if installation worked.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
@diberry diberry force-pushed the squad/new-customer-docs-1 branch from 7adb39d to 0e15647 Compare March 8, 2026 21:34
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diberry commented Mar 8, 2026

@bradygaster — PR is ready for review. CI is waiting on first-time contributor workflow approval. 🙏

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Docs: Add validation steps to Quick Start in README

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