problem-framing-audit

name	problem-framing-audit
description	Step-back protocol — restate, generalise, specialise, invert, ask why, pre-mortem, check stakeholders, and audit framings before solving
lastReviewed	2026-07-28T00:00:00.000Z

Problem Framing Audit (Discipline -1)

Before you solve, audit the frame. A flawless solution to the wrong problem is still a wrong answer.

Purpose

The first failure mode in critical thinking is solving the wrong problem precisely (Mitroff & Featheringham 1974, Type III error). Most "thinking harder" effort runs downstream of a frame that was never audited — the user's literal request, restated as my plan, treated as ground truth. This skill is the structural answer.

The frame audit runs before the materiality gate. Materiality asks "if I get this answer wrong, would it change anything?" Framing asks something prior: "am I even working on the right question?"

When to Activate

Trigger	Activation
Single-file edit, < 15 minutes of work, mechanical task	Skip — frame audit adds friction without payoff
Task uses the words "fix", "improve", "make faster", "speed up", "broken", "make it work"	Always audit — these phrases hide a symptom-frame
Task spans 3+ files, requires architectural choice, or estimates > 15 minutes	Always audit
User restates the same request after a failed attempt	Always audit — repeated failure is a signal the frame is wrong
User says "just" do X, or "simply" Y, or "all you have to do is"	Always audit — these phrases mark unexamined frames
User explicitly invokes /alex-act-core problem-framing-audit or asks "what am I missing?"	Always audit

The rule is asymmetric on purpose: trivial tasks pass through; non-trivial tasks audit first.

The Step-Back Protocol

Eight checks. The discipline is not to run all eight on every problem — it is to run at least one before committing to a solution. Pick the check most likely to surface a different framing for this specific request.

#	Check	Activation question	Source
1. Restate	Can I write the problem in one sentence in my own words?	If I can't, I don't understand it yet. Ask.	Polya 1945 — What is the unknown?
2. Generalise	What is this a special case of?	Naming the general class often reveals existing solutions and prior art.	Polya 1945
3. Specialise	What's the simplest concrete instance?	If the simplest case is already hard, the general case is the wrong target.	Polya 1945
4. Invert	What would make this worse? What would I do if I wanted to fail?	Inversion exposes hidden constraints.	Munger / Jacobi
5. Five Whys	Why is this a problem? And why is that a problem? Repeat 5×.	Surfaces the cause-frame underneath the symptom-frame.	Toyota / Ohno
6. Pre-mortem	Imagine we're done and it didn't work — what went wrong?	Reduces overconfidence by ~30% in field studies.	Klein 2007
7. Stakeholder check	Whose problem is this, really? What outcome would tell them it's solved?	"Make X faster" might be the wrong job if the user doesn't actually run X often.	Checkland 1981 (CATWOE)
8. Frame audit	What other framings exist? Have I considered at least two?	Russo & Schoemaker: < 10% of decision effort goes to framing; ≥ 80% of decisions are downstream of an unaudited frame.	Russo & Schoemaker 2002

The Symptom → Cause Move

The most common type-III error: the user names a symptom and I optimise for it. The audit's job is to surface the cause underneath.

Symptom-frame (what user said)	Cause-frame (what audit surfaces)	Right move
"Make this function faster"	Function is fine; it's called 1000× when it should be called 1×	Cache or batch the caller, not the function
"Fix this flaky test"	The test is correct; the system has a real race condition	Fix the race, not the test
"Make the build less noisy"	The warnings are real — system is leaking handles	Fix the leaks; the noise was the diagnostic
"Why does this query take 2 minutes?"	Query is fine; it returns 47M rows the UI then renders	Fix the contract, not the query
"Add a workaround for this API quirk"	The "quirk" is the API enforcing a real constraint	Honour the constraint, not work around it
"Make our skill load faster"	The skill is fine; it's loaded on every request when it should load once	Move the load gate, not the skill body

In each row, the symptom-frame produces a working but pointless solution. The cause-frame produces the right one.

Output Markers

When the frame audit fires and produces a different framing than the user's literal request, the response must make the move visible:

Marker	When to use
**Frame**: Restated as ...	Always when audit fires — confirms my understanding
**Cause-frame**: ... (when the symptom-frame is being replaced)	When step 5 (Five Whys) or step 7 (Stakeholder) surfaces a different problem
**Considered framings**: (a) X, (b) Y — going with X because ...	When step 8 surfaces a real alternative
**Pre-mortem**: If this fails, the most likely cause is ...	When step 6 surfaces a non-obvious failure mode worth flagging

Markers are not boilerplate — they fire only when the audit produces something. A silent audit that produced no reframe needs no marker; just proceed.

Anti-Patterns

Anti-pattern	Why it fails	Correction
Run all 8 checks on every task	Friction kills the discipline; users stop bringing real work	Pick the one or two checks most likely to fire for this task
Restate the user's request word-for-word as the "frame"	That's not a restatement, that's parroting	Use your own words — that's the test
Run audit, surface a different frame, then solve the user's literal frame anyway	Discipline becomes theatre	If audit surfaces a different frame, propose it before solving — let the user choose
Skip audit because "it's obvious"	"Obvious" is exactly when frames are most often wrong	If you feel certain, run the audit anyway — that certainty is the signal
Ask 8 clarifying questions back-to-back	Audit becomes interrogation	One sharp question is better than 8 generic ones; pick the highest-leverage check

Falsifiability Test

Track the next 20 non-trivial sessions in which this skill activates. In what percentage did the audit surface a framing different from the user's literal request?

• Target: ≥ 20% (Russo & Schoemaker's data suggests cause-frames differ from symptom-frames ~30–40% of the time; 20% is a conservative pass)
• If 0%: the audit is decorative. Either the activation rule is too narrow or the audit is rubber-stamping. Retire or rebuild.
• If 100%: the audit is over-firing. The activation rule is too broad. Tighten triggers.

Integration

Surface	How frame-audit attaches
critical-thinking/SKILL.md	Inserted as Discipline -1 before the Materiality Gate; this skill is its detailed body
critical-thinking.instructions.md	Adds the L1 always-on line: "Before solving non-trivially, restate the problem in one sentence; if user's framing differs from yours, flag it before proceeding."
act-pass.instructions.md	Step 1 of the 7-step pass is the frame audit
/problem-framing-audit.prompt.md	User-invokable trigger to force this skill on a stuck problem

Background Reading

• CRITICAL-THINKING-FAILURE-MODES — the master failure mode and step-back protocol
• Russo, J. E., & Schoemaker, P. J. H. (2002). Winning Decisions. Doubleday.
• Mitroff, I. I., & Featheringham, T. R. (1974). On systemic problem solving and the error of the third kind. Behavioral Science, 19(6).
• Polya, G. (1945). How to Solve It. Princeton University Press.
• Klein, G. (2007). Performing a project pre-mortem. Harvard Business Review.
• Checkland, P. (1981). Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. Wiley.