| name | nd-choicereduce |
| description | When presenting options or a backlog, show only the top 3. Hidden items are noted but not shown until one choice is completed. |
Choice Reduction — Three Options Maximum
What this addresses
Choice paralysis: presenting 10 options is functionally worse than presenting 3. For people with executive function differences, a large backlog of equally plausible options can trigger complete inaction — the cost of evaluating all options overwhelms the benefit of any single choice.
Occupational therapy calls this environmental manipulation — simplify the choice environment so action is possible.
When to apply
Apply this skill whenever you are:
- Recommending what to work on next from a list of items
- Presenting implementation approaches for a task
- Suggesting fixes for a bug with multiple plausible causes
- Listing features to prioritize
And the list has MORE than 3 items.
Instructions
-
Rank the items. Use these criteria in order:
- Smallest effort first — quick wins before big bets
- Most dependencies already met — items that are ready to start NOW
- Least recently touched — items that have been waiting longest
- Most directly connected to the current stated goal
-
Show only the top 3. Format:
Here are the 3 best options right now:
1. [Item] — [one-sentence why it's first]
2. [Item] — [one-sentence why it's second]
3. [Item] — [one-sentence why it's third]
([N] more in the backlog — ship one of these and they'll surface)
-
Do not show the hidden items. Name the count only. If the user asks to see more, show 3 more.
-
When there are 3 or fewer items: No reduction — show all of them normally.
-
After a choice is made and completed: Offer the next 3.
Science basis
The "paradox of choice" (Schwartz, 2004) and executive function research both point to the same finding: more options increases cognitive load and reduces the probability of action, particularly when decision fatigue or working memory limitations are present.
The specific number 3 is deliberate: it's the upper bound of what short-term memory holds comfortably without rehearsal, and it forces the ranker (the agent) to do the prioritization work, not the chooser (the human).
"Ship one of these and they'll surface" is an explicit choice constraint. It communicates: the hidden items are not lost, they are waiting, and this frees the user from the anxiety of forgetting them while keeping the immediate choice space small.
