speaking model.
A model completes the document you started. Every word is evidence about what document this is — vague evidence, generic document; precise evidence, precise document.
audit v. exhaustive pass against stated criteria; completeness over judgment.
brainstorm v. quantity on purpose; quality filter off. Include bad ideas.
critique v. find problems, fix nothing. Attach a rubric and an order.
decompose v. break into independent parts before any work. The opening move.
describe v. report what's there, as-built. Exposes misreadings before they become edits.
diagnose v. find the cause; cure explicitly deferred. Touch nothing yet.
draft v. first version meant for revision; speed licensed. Pairs with tighten.
estimate v. order-of-magnitude licensed; assumptions listed for correction.
fix v. smallest change resolving the named defect. The anti-rewrite.
pre-mortem v. assume it failed; explain why. Licenses the pessimism "list risks" misses.
red-team v. attack it: exploits, failure modes, misreadings. Strongest criticism verb.
refactor v. restructure, behavior identical; tests still pass. ≠ rewrite: same goal, new construction, big diffs licensed.
steelman v. build the strongest version of the position you disfavor. Antidote to easy agreement.
summarize v. compress without adding. Always attach a size + audience.
triage v. sort by severity; solve nothing yet.
plan first; wait for approval — proposal ≠ execution. Reviewing plans is judgment's best per-minute buy.
think it through step by step — visible reasoning; spend on hard problems, not lookups.
keep A, change B — because C — the revision atom. Reasons update the task model.
one option, not a menu — pick the best; defend it in a sentence.
go again, but… — retry with exactly one delta. That's the experiment.
summarize where we are — checkpoint; portable state for a fresh session.
audience clause — "explain to a [X] who knows [Y] but not [Z]." Highest compression in the language.
one example > three sentences — a filled input→output pair is a specification.
"I don't know" is licensed — and beats a guess. Say so explicitly.
quote the exact line — fabricated quotes are checkable; grounding beats trust.
don't guess — ask — ambiguity → question, not assumption.
what would change your answer? — surfaces the load-bearing assumptions.
which part are you least sure of? — comparative confidence calibrates best.
honest, not agreeable — never signal the answer you want; you'll get it.
don't hallucinate → ground it: sources, quotes, uncertainty licensed.
make it better → show one sentence in the target voice.
this is solid, right? → "what's weakest here?"
be thorough → a checkable criterion.
same prompt, again → change one variable.