steel-manning

name	steel-manning
description	Steel-Manning Campaign — adversarial verification of convergence decisions through resurrection advocacy, winner stress-testing, criteria interrogation, and multi-perspective attack using Devil's Advocacy, Pre-mortem, Red Teaming, Dialectical Inquiry methods.
execution	campaign
dependencies	{"strategies":["counter-thesis-construction","criteria-interrogation","resurrection-advocacy","stakeholder-objection-simulation","winner-stress-testing"],"sops":["context-checkpoint","context-init","convergence-multi-stakeholder-simulation","convergence-saturation-detection","convergence-sensitivity-analysis"]}

Steel-Manning

Adversarial verification of convergence decisions. This campaign subjects winners, criteria, and rejected alternatives to rigorous challenge — ensuring that final decisions survive the strongest possible counter-arguments rather than merely the weakest objections.

The campaign deploys four complementary attack vectors: resurrecting rejected candidates to test whether elimination was justified, stress-testing winners to find hidden weaknesses, interrogating the criteria framework itself, and simulating stakeholder objections for political feasibility.

Strategy Routing

Signal	Strategy
resurrect rejected candidates / give losers a fair hearing	resurrection-advocacy
stress-test the winner / find weaknesses in top pick	winner-stress-testing
challenge the criteria themselves / meta-level questioning	criteria-interrogation
simulate stakeholder objections / political feasibility	stakeholder-objection-simulation
construct strongest counter-argument / dialectical challenge	counter-thesis-construction

Manifest

Strategies

Strategy	Method Lineage
resurrection-advocacy	Devil's Advocacy, Dialectical Inquiry, Adversarial Collaboration (Kahneman)
winner-stress-testing	Pre-mortem (Klein), Red Teaming, Failure Mode Analysis
criteria-interrogation	Assumption-based Planning, Critical Systems Heuristics, Boundary Critique
stakeholder-objection-simulation	Role-play, Stakeholder Analysis, Political Feasibility
counter-thesis-construction	Dialectical Inquiry, Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis, Adversarial Debate

Tactics

Tactic	SOPs Used
adversarial-debate-protocol	advocate-construction, critic-attack, judge-verdict
assumption-excavation	assumption-extraction, assumption-challenge, conclusion-sensitivity
multi-perspective-attack	perspective-assignment, perspective-attack, steel-manning-synthesis

SOPs

SOP	Input	Output	Shareable
advocate-construction	rejected_candidate, context	strongest_case_for_resurrection	validation
critic-attack	winner, advocate_case	attack_arguments[], severity_ratings	validation
judge-verdict	advocate_case, critic_attacks	verdict, reasoning, conditions	validation
assumption-extraction	decision, evidence	assumptions[], confidence_levels	—
assumption-challenge	assumption	challenge_argument, alternative, impact_if_wrong	—
conclusion-sensitivity	assumptions[], challenges[]	sensitivity_map, critical_assumptions[]	—
perspective-assignment	decision, stakeholders	perspective_briefs[]	—
perspective-attack	decision, perspective_brief	attacks[], constructive_alternatives[]	—
steel-manning-synthesis	all_attacks, all_verdicts	final_verdict, surviving_concerns, modifications	—

Budget Table (M Tier)

Metric	Minimum
Attack perspectives	>= 3 distinct angles
Debate rounds	>= 2 per contested decision
Assumptions challenged	>= 5 per winner
Final verdict	Explicit ACCEPT / REJECT / REVISE with evidence

MCP Tools

• mcp__wiki-vault__vault_search — retrieve prior decisions and context
• mcp__wiki-vault__vault_query_graph — trace dependency chains for impact analysis
• mcp__wiki-vault__vault_add_edge — record challenge relationships

Context Management

The campaign maintains a Challenge Ledger tracking:

• Which decisions have been challenged
• Attack vectors applied to each
• Verdicts rendered and their conditions
• Surviving concerns requiring monitoring

State is passed between strategies via the ledger. Each strategy updates it upon completion.

Available Strategies

Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.

Strategy	When to use
counter-thesis-construction	Construct the strongest possible counter-argument to the convergence decision using Dialectical Inquiry and Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis methods.
criteria-interrogation	Challenge the evaluation criteria themselves using Assumption-based Planning, Critical Systems Heuristics, and Boundary Critique to ensure the framework is sound.
resurrection-advocacy	Argue for rejected candidates using Devil's Advocacy, Dialectical Inquiry, and Adversarial Collaboration to ensure elimination was justified.
stakeholder-objection-simulation	Simulate stakeholder objections through role-play and political feasibility analysis to test whether the decision survives real-world opposition.
winner-stress-testing	Stress-test the winning candidate using Pre-mortem, Red Teaming, and Failure Mode Analysis to expose hidden weaknesses before commitment.

Available SOPs

Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.

SOP	When to use
context-checkpoint	Append research process and results to the current Phase's context file. Covers both process and results with genuine substance. Use this skill at plan-designated checkpoint points — typically after each strategy completes or at key decision nodes within a research Phase.
context-init	Create a new context file for a research Phase. Called once at Phase start to initialize the file that subsequent context-checkpoint calls will append to. Use this skill whenever a new research Phase begins and a fresh context file is needed.
convergence-multi-stakeholder-simulation	Simulates diverse stakeholder perspectives and their strongest objections/support arguments. Shared across steel-manning and consensus campaigns.
convergence-saturation-detection	Determines when to stop iterating — coverage threshold met or marginal returns diminishing. Shared across all campaigns.
convergence-sensitivity-analysis	Tests conclusion robustness by perturbing parameters and observing rank changes. Shared across scoring, portfolio, and steel-manning campaigns.