thread-to-decision

Thread To Decision Skill

Threads orbit because nobody performs the landing: forty messages in, three positions have emerged, two side-quests have spawned, and every participant believes a different thing was "basically agreed." The landing is a move, performable by anyone (not just the boss): summarize the positions fairly with names, isolate the actual question from the side-quests, inject the missing structure — a decider and a deadline ([async-instead](../async-instead/SKILL.md) closure rules) — and when the call lands, record it where decisions live, because a decision that exists only at message 47 doesn't exist.

What This Skill Produces

• The summary message — the thread compressed: the question, the positions with names, the side-quests parked
• The structure injection — decider named (or proposed), deadline set, silence-meaning declared
• The closure message — the decision, its why, dissent acknowledged
• The record — the decision logged durably, linked back to the thread

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• The thread — the actual messages; summarizing positions requires reading them, and attribution requires care ("A argued X" must be fair enough that A nods)
• The user's standing — thread owner, participant, or the person with authority to name a decider? The moves flex — a participant proposes the structure ("suggest [name] calls this by Friday?"); an owner installs it
• The real question — threads braid several; the user's read on which one matters (the summary tests it against the thread)
• Where decisions live — the log, the doc, the channel pin; the record needs a durable home

Framework: The Landing Rules

1. Summarize before structuring: the landing message opens by compressing fairly — "Where we are: the question is X. [A] and [B] favor option 1 (reasons); [C] raises the cost concern; the tangent about Y is real but separate." A summary that participants recognize buys the standing to impose structure; a partisan summary restarts the war with citations.
2. Isolate the question, park the quests: threads orbit partly because three questions share one thread — the landing names the question and explicitly parks the others ("Y deserves its own thread — starting it separately"). One thread, one decision.
3. Inject the missing trio: decider, deadline, silence-meaning — "Proposal: [name] decides by Thu EOD; comments until then; silence = can-live-with-it." When the user lacks authority to appoint, the proposal of structure almost always gets adopted, because everyone is tired of orbiting — the mover's advantage.
4. Close with the why and the dissent: the decision message states the call, two sentences of why, and names the road not taken ("going with 1; C's cost concern is real — we'll cap the spend at X to address it"). Acknowledged dissent ends threads; ignored dissent schedules the sequel.
5. Record or relitigate: the decision goes to the durable home (the decision log, the project doc) with a link back — and the thread gets the final message pointing there. Six weeks later, "wait, did we decide this?" gets a link instead of a rematch. This is the [decision-meeting-format](../decision-meeting-format/SKILL.md) record discipline, applied to the async venue where it's skipped most.

Output Format

Thread Landing: [topic] — [N] messages in

The Summary Message (post this)

[The question · positions with names, fairly · parked side-quests · the structure proposal: decider, deadline, silence-meaning]

The Closure Message (when decided)

[The call · the two-sentence why · dissent acknowledged with its accommodation if any]

The Record

[The durable entry: decision, why, date, thread link · posted at (home) · the thread's final pointer message]

Quality Checks

• [ ] The summary would be endorsed by each summarized participant
• [ ] Exactly one question survived; side-quests got explicit parking
• [ ] Decider, deadline, and silence-meaning were all injected
• [ ] The closure acknowledges dissent by name and content
• [ ] The record lives outside the thread with links both ways

Anti-Patterns

• [ ] Do not structure before summarizing — unearned structure reads as a power move and gets litigated
• [ ] Do not summarize partisanly — one slanted attribution costs the whole landing
• [ ] Do not let three questions share the landing — braided threads orbit forever
• [ ] Do not close without the dissent line — smooth closes breed rough reopenings
• [ ] Do not leave the decision at message 47 — un-recorded decisions have a half-life of six weeks