What it is, and how to do it.

The long answers. The journal covers what changed each week; these guides hold what stays true.

• 01

  Twenty questions for any decision: the eight bones, the best next question, and when to stop

  How to make a hard decision the way you play Twenty Questions: fill in eight bones, ask the question worth the most for its cost, and stop only when none is left.

• 02

  What goes on a decision map: facts, claims, unknowns, kill tests, options, triggers and gates

  A decision map keeps each part of a choice separate and checkable. Here are its parts, walked through one real example map from the open-source Of One repo.

• 03

  Why until bedrock: a better Five Whys with contrast, kinds of why, and a real place to stop

  Keep the good idea in Five Whys and drop the number. Ask why this rather than that, name the kind of why, let causes branch, and stop at bedrock you can check.

• 04

  Kill tests: how to find out you are wrong early, with a one-page worksheet

  Write down, before you act, the result that would prove you wrong, then run the five challenge checks. A one-page kill-test worksheet with a filled-in example.

• 05

  Human gates for AI: which decisions an AI should never take alone

  An AI should not act alone on moves that are hard to undo or touch law, health, money, safety, rights, jobs or reputation. A gate list and a small-business gate table.

• 06

  How to give an AI a decision harness: map first, answer second, and a prompt you can copy

  Make any AI assistant build the decision map before it answers: sources, unknowns, kill tests, options, triggers and gates. Includes a copyable Ask, Map, Move prompt.