diff --git a/src/bmm-skills/3-solutioning/bmad-architecture/SKILL.md b/src/bmm-skills/3-solutioning/bmad-architecture/SKILL.md
index fd52bb8e5..551f98602 100644
--- a/src/bmm-skills/3-solutioning/bmad-architecture/SKILL.md
+++ b/src/bmm-skills/3-solutioning/bmad-architecture/SKILL.md
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ Writes go through the shared script (don't read the file back except on resume):
 3. Headless (no interactive user) → follow `references/headless.md` for the whole run. Otherwise greet `{user_name}` in `{communication_language}`. Detect the intent from the conversation and input — **create** (the default), **update** an existing spine, or **validate** one (see those sections). If the real ask is requirements / UX / a capability contract / epic breakdown / an agent, invoke the `bmad-prd`, `bmad-ux`, `bmad-spec`, `bmad-create-epics-and-stories`, or `bmad-workflow-builder` (if the BMad Builder module is installed) skill instead.
 4. If a run folder for this target already exists under `{workflow.spine_output_path}`, offer to resume from its memlog rather than restart.
 5. Interactive create: offer the working mode in `{communication_language}` — **Coaching path** (default) or **Fast path** (see *How you work*) — before any drafting; default to Coaching unless the user asks for speed.
+6. **Mandatory, both paths, before drafting:** ask whether the spine is the only deliverable — and if not, draw out the *purpose and audience* rather than a document type. "An architecture doc" balloons into bloat; what they actually need might be a one-detail explainer for a single team or a non-technical vision piece for a board. Purpose right-sizes the artifact and may call for extra elicitation up front, not just a finale add-on.
 
 For a new spine, bind `{doc_workspace}` to `{workflow.spine_output_path}/{workflow.run_folder_pattern}/`, seed `ARCHITECTURE-SPINE.md` from `{workflow.spine_template}`, run `memlog.py init`, and tell the user the path. **At epic altitude, scope the folder to the epic** (set `run_folder_pattern` per `customize.toml`) so per-epic runs don't collide.
 
@@ -71,9 +72,9 @@ Walk the sequence; reviewer fixes land before polish.
 2. **Reconcile inputs.** A subagent per load-bearing input checks it against the spine and returns what didn't land — especially a quiet requirement (a tone, a constraint) the `AD` structure dropped. Before the gate.
 3. **Reviewer pass.** Run the Reviewer Gate (`references/reviewer-gate.md`). Resolve before polish.
 4. **Triage.** Open questions and `[ASSUMPTION]` tags: blockers (unsafe for what's next) resolved one at a time; the rest deferred with a revisit condition in the memlog.
-5. **Renderings & polish.** The terse spine is the deliverable when the consumer is a downstream build agent. If the user needs a human-facing artifact instead, offer a fuller rendering (html or md solution design, deck, C4 set) and apply `{workflow.doc_standards}` polish only to that prose, never to the spine.
+5. **Renderings & polish.** The spine is the build deliverable; with it and the memlog now in place, produce any *additional* human-facing artifact the user needs, scoped to the purpose and audience drawn out up front. The up-front question already flagged whether one's needed; if it wasn't, still offer one here, seeding concrete options: an interactive HTML+SVG deck to walk a team through the architecture and drive discussion, a fuller HTML/md solution design, a C4 set, or a view of how the work splits across teams/epics. Build only what they pick, right-sized to that purpose; apply `{workflow.doc_standards}` polish to that prose only, never to the spine.
 6. **External handoffs.** Run `{workflow.external_handoffs}`; surface returned URLs/IDs. Offer to invoke the `bmad-spec` skill to adopt the spine as a companion, keeping `AD` IDs stable so downstream can cite them.
-7. **Close.** Set the spine's own frontmatter `status: final`, `updated: {date}`; log a `memlog.py append --type event --text "spine finalized"` (the memlog has no status field). Share paths. Next: invoke the `bmad-spec`, `bmad-create-epics-and-stories`, or — epic altitude — `bmad-create-story` skill; or invoke the `bmad-help` skill to route.
+7. **Close.** Set the spine's own frontmatter `status: final`, `updated: {date}`; log a `memlog.py append --type event --text "spine finalized"` (the memlog has no status field). Share paths. Next, **lead with `bmad-spec`** — recommend adopting/refreshing the spine as a spec companion (always the top recommendation when a spec was an input, and a useful next step even when it wasn't), then `bmad-create-epics-and-stories` or — epic altitude — `bmad-create-story`; or invoke `bmad-help` to route.
 8. Run `{workflow.on_complete}`.
 
 ## Update