| name | assumption-constraint |
| description | Which assumptions are most fragile? — Vulnerability ranking + impact assessment of experiment assumptions |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| category | experiment-execution |
| type | strategy |
| sops | ["assumption-challenging","resource-quantification"] |
| tactics | ["sensitivity-ranking"] |
| dependencies | {"sops":["assumption-challenging","resource-quantification"],"tactics":["sensitivity-ranking"]} |
Strategy: Assumption Constraint
Methodology
Systematic assumption vulnerability analysis:
- Extraction: Surface all implicit and explicit assumptions
- Scoring: Quantify vulnerability (confidence × evidence / testability)
- Impact assessment: Blast radius × recovery cost
- Prioritization: Vulnerability × Impact = Priority
- Validation planning: Cheapest test that resolves uncertainty
Assumption categories:
| Category | Examples |
|---|
| Technical | Method convergence, architecture suitability |
| Data | Availability, quality, representativeness |
| Resource | Sufficiency of compute, time, expertise |
| Environmental | Tool stability, API access, policy |
| Theoretical | Effect existence, measurability, magnitude |
Execution Flow
-
Challenge Assumptions → call assumption-challenging SOP
- Input: experiment plan, hypothesis
- Output: assumption inventory with validity assessment
-
Quantify Validation Cost → call resource-quantification SOP
- Input: validation experiments for top assumptions
- Output: cost to validate each assumption
-
Rank Sensitivity → invoke sensitivity-ranking tactic
- Determine which assumptions are most binding
-
Report → synthesize vulnerability assessment
- Top-5 fragile assumptions with validation paths
- Binding assumption constraint identification
Budget Gate
| Resource | Budget | Notes |
|---|
| Subagent calls | ≤5 | 2 SOPs + synthesis |
| Iterations | ≤2 | Re-rank if new assumptions surface |
| Output size | ≤3000 tokens | Ranked table + validation plan |
Available Tactics
Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.
| Tactic | When to use |
|---|
| sensitivity-ranking | Rank constraints by sensitivity — which ones most impact the outcome if they shift |
Available SOPs
Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.
| SOP | When to use |
|---|
| assumption-challenging | Challenge each assumption's validity — shared cross-repo SOP |
| resource-quantification | Quantify resource demand vs supply vs gap for each resource category |
