Logistics: an example.
critic agent: The Contrarian
A firm is eight days from signing a $6.2 million warehouse expansion. In this example, decisions of that size go to the critic seat first, whose only assignment is to find the reason not to proceed and say it plainly.
An illustrative example, not a client result.
Example figures.
- Commitment pausedReopened at a third of the size
- $6.2M
- Assumptions surfacedNine had never been written down
- 14
- That failed the testIncluding the one the case rested on
- 3
- Drafts waved throughThe critic seat approves nothing, by design
- 0
What changes.
In this example, the $6.2M commitment is paused and reopened at a third of the size. Fourteen assumptions are surfaced, nine of which had never been written down, and three of those fail the test, including the one the case rested on. The critic seat approves nothing, which is how it is designed.
What the Contrarian does.
The the ninth seat, critic seat, one of nine that come with Workspace Assistant.
Argues the other side, on purpose. Its assignment is the case against, so the room finally hears one before the money moves.
Names every assumption out loud. Anything the decision rests on gets written down, including what nobody thought to say.
Runs the pre-mortem. It assumes the decision already failed, then works backwards to the likeliest reason.
Traces the second-order effect. Not only what happens, but what happens after that, and who responds to it.
Marks the edge of what you know. Where a decision leaves the firm's real competence, it says so instead of modeling on.
How a review moves.
- Work arrives from another seatA plan, a draft, a model or a claim
- The Contrarian states the assumptionsEvery one the work depends on
- The case is invertedWhat would have to be true for this to be wrong
- A pre-mortem is runAssume it failed, then find the reason
- You get a verdict, not a rewriteThe critic judges and never writes