Mechanics 3 of 8 · 2 min read
Organize Alternative Attempts
Formations make room for different approaches, disagreement, and unsuccessful results.
Part of our current product model. These essays explain responsibilities and required checks, not a certification of deployed behavior.
A difficult problem may need several attempts rather than a longer conversation with one agent. Formation helps organize that work through formations, including Competition and Huddle.
The purpose is to explore and assess possible answers. Adding participants does not guarantee better reasoning, independent evidence, or a successful outcome.
Give each attempt an identity
For the illustrative delivery problem, one attempt might prioritize spare capacity while another explores a different allocation. They can work toward the same Business Truth with different resources, budgets, or formations.
Keep the specification version, available inputs, formation, and budget associated with each attempt. Otherwise, comparing their results can hide important differences: one may have used a later capacity estimate or a constraint the other never received.
Parallel work also has a cost. More attempts consume resources and can repeat the same mistaken assumption.
Preserve disagreement
A formation can organize challenge, comparison, or synthesis. Its recommendation should retain material disagreement and the evidence behind it.
Several agents repeating a source do not create several independent sources. A majority view does not establish feasibility. A synthesis that drops an inconvenient objection can look clearer while becoming less reliable.
Review should make those limits easier to see.
Stopping is not the same as succeeding
A loop reaches a fixed point when its context is stable under the defined rules. That point is favorable only when its result also meets the declared outcome and evidence requirements.
An attempt may stop earlier because its budget is exhausted, policy blocks progress, or human judgment is needed. Zero, one, or several attempts may produce acceptable results.
An unsuccessful attempt can justify trying a different budget, resource allocation, or formation. Record what changed and identify the new or resumed attempt. Do not rewrite the old outcome as a success.
Select under an explicit rule
When several results are acceptable, selection still needs a basis. That might be a declared preference, another formation, or a person's judgment.
Selection does not itself create a commitment. If it is delegated and binding, the mandate must say so. Keep both the choice and the alternatives that informed it.