Prioritize

Solution Design — Orchestrator

Strategy — Step 2 of 4. Brainstorms strategic solutions to a confirmed problem, surfaces unconventional tactics, and ranks them with evidence-backed scoring against explicit trade-offs.

Core Question: "What's the highest-impact thing we can do about this?"

[Read references/playbook.md [PLAYBOOK] for why this skill exists, the anti-generic test, forced-ranking ceiling, ≤3 cut-line philosophy, churn special case, unconventional-scan rationale, and when NOT to use.]

---

Critical Gates — Read First

1. Every initiative hypothesis MUST name the root cause. Generic growth ideas generate low-impact, unfocused initiatives. If the hypothesis "because" clause doesn't reference the confirmed root cause / problem, the initiative is untethered.
2. Force-rank BEFORE scoring — ranking prevents "everything is a 6." The forced ranking sets the ceiling for ICE scores. If you ranked it #1, its ICE should be highest.
3. Anti-generic test is mandatory — "would this help ANY company?" Delete the root cause reference from an initiative. If it still makes sense for any company, it's generic. Rewrite.
4. ≤3 initiatives above cut line — force the constraint. More than 3 active initiatives means none get full attention. Surface trade-offs honestly; parked initiatives have their turn after the current batch ships.

---

Before Starting

Apply the before-starting-check [PLAYBOOK]:

0. Mode resolution per references/_shared/mode-resolver.md [PROCEDURE]. Skill is budget: deep; --fast forces Route B (skip unconventional-agent) with critic gate collapsed to single pass. Hard gate (Critical Gates above) STILL enforced under --fast — safety gates supersede mode-resolver downgrade. Session execution profile (single-vs-multi): inherit per references/_shared/execution-policy.md.
1. Read implementation-roadmap/canonical-paths.md if present — verify output path matches canonical inventory (docs/forsvn/artifacts/meta/sketches/prioritize-*.md) and Out-of-Scope path (docs/forsvn/artifacts/meta/out-of-scope/).
2. Read .forsvn/index/manifest.json — find the matching diagnose-*.md (required) and prior prioritize-*.md (if any). Check freshness (>30 days surfaces a warning).
3. Run Pre-Dispatch per references/procedures/pre-dispatch.md [PROCEDURE] — hard-gate enforcement, read order, Cold/Warm Start prompts, staleness check, constraint interview, Out-of-Scope persistence on write all there.

---

Artifact Contract

• Path: docs/forsvn/artifacts/meta-prioritize-<YYYY-MM-DD>-<slug>.md (flat v2; one per root cause; re-run renames prior with .v[N])
• Lifecycle: sketch · Review surface: none (decision_state: not_required)
• Frontmatter: skill, version, date, status, stack=meta, review_surface=none
• Body sections (cross-stack contract): Phase 1 Initiatives (5-10 + 2-4 unconventional) · Phase 2 (Forced Ranking, ICE Scoring, Decisions) · Cut line · Next Step
• Side effects on PASS: one file per Kill written to docs/forsvn/artifacts/meta/out-of-scope/[name].md; experience write-back is NONE (initiatives are project-specific, not stable profile state)

Full schemas, consumer map, and cross-stack load-bearing field list: references/procedures/artifact-contract.md [PROCEDURE].

---

Agent Manifest

#	Agent	Layer	Focus
1	research-agent	L1	Root cause validation, case studies via WebSearch, constraint summary
2	initiative-generator-agent	L1.5 ‖	5-10 standard initiatives with Hypothesis/Mechanic/Target Metric/Anti-generic check
3	unconventional-agent	L1.5 ‖	2-4 asymmetric/non-obvious tactics with risk assessments
4	ranking-agent	L2 seq	Strict 1-through-N forced ranking with reasoning per rank
5	ice-scoring-agent	L2 seq	Evidence-backed ICE scores + differentiation check (no >2 sharing a total)
6	cut-line-agent	L2 seq	Proceed/Park/Kill decisions, capacity assessment, Proceed validation
7	critic-agent	L2 final	9-point quality gate (rubric + failure routing in agent file). Max 2 rewrite cycles

---

Routing + Dispatch

Two routes; chosen at Pre-Dispatch and echoed in the Warm Start confirmation (operator can override):

Route	When
A — Full Analysis (default)	Any non-trivial solution design
B — Quick Design	User has candidate approaches; speed > breadth; OR --fast flag

Entry mode is orthogonal to route: root-cause (default, diagnose-gated) vs ideation (input is a candidate set — discover shortlist, debate output, or a "generate ideas and rank them" ask; the diagnose gate is replaced by a stated ranking anchor and Phase 1 may expand at volume). Resolution + mechanics: references/procedures/pre-dispatch.md § Entry-mode resolution.

Mechanics (route graphs, Layer 1/1.5/2 spawn details, merge step + user feedback gate, critic FAIL routing, single-agent fallback, post-write side effects, Out-of-Scope Persistence file format, chain position, skill deference) live in references/procedures/dispatch-mechanics.md [PROCEDURE]. Load at Layer 1 dispatch entry.

---

Anti-Patterns

Critic-load reference: references/anti-patterns.md [ANTI-PATTERN]. Re-read before any output ships — 8-pattern catalog (mapped onto the critic's 9-point quality gate in agents/critic-agent.md) plus 2 cross-cutting failures (cross-stack contract drift + out-of-scope persistence skipped).

---

Durable Rules (protected)

<!-- SLOW_UPDATE_START --> <!-- No pinned rules yet. Populate via the slow-update workflow (see references/slow-update-fence.md). Each pinned rule must (a) be procedural not instance-specific, (b) be earned from a regression or critic-flagged failure, (c) cite the artifact / decision record that justified pinning. --> <!-- SLOW_UPDATE_END -->

Completion Status

Every run ends with explicit status:

• DONE — initiatives generated, ICE-scored, ranked, cut-line drawn (≤3 above), kill criteria attached, critic PASS
• DONE_WITH_CONCERNS — ranking complete but with sizing/impact uncertainty flagged at item level (e.g., effort estimates speculative, ICE inputs from interview not data); OR critic loop cap reached with surfaceable gate failures (pinned at top as Known Issues)
• BLOCKED — root-cause mode: id:diagnose unresolvable (no diagnose artifact in the manifest) AND no other root-cause source available; STOP gate per Critical Gate semantics — recommend diagnose first (hard-gated, no INTERVIEW substitute). Ideation mode: no ranking anchor obtainable
• NEEDS_CONTEXT — diagnose available but id:product-context unresolvable for impact estimation; recommend research-icp

Next Step

After cut line is drawn: feed Proceed initiatives forward — plan-funnel (numeric targets per initiative), plan-campaign (campaign briefs for Proceed items), architect-system (technical scoping per Mechanic). Re-run prioritize when new root cause surfaces or after a batch ships.

---

References

• references/playbook.md — why this exists, anti-generic test, ≤3 cut-line philosophy, churn special case, when NOT to use
• references/procedures/{pre-dispatch, dispatch-mechanics, artifact-contract}.md — read-order + hard gates · route graphs + side effects · full contract + consumer map
• references/_shared/{before-starting-check, mode-resolver, pre-dispatch-protocol, hypothesis-framework, artifact-contract-template}.md
• references/format-conventions.md — Phase 1 format, ICE/Decisions table schemas, Cut line, Next Step, Out-of-Scope file format
• references/anti-patterns.md — 8 named anti-patterns + cross-stack drift + out-of-scope persistence skipped
• references/examples/prioritize-walkthrough.md — full Route A walkthrough on a 2-root-cause acquisition + activation case
• Data catalogs: initiative-types.md · ice-scoring-rubric.md · initiative-planning.md · churn-{playbook, cancel-flow-templates, health-score-guide}.md
• research-skills/CLAUDE.md — stack-level conventions