direction-gate

name	direction-gate
description	Evaluate strategic direction changes before execution. Triggers on: 'direction change', 'strategic decision', 'pivot'.

Direction Gate

MANDATORY before any strategic direction change. This gate prevents costly pivots without proper analysis and stakeholder alignment.

When This Gate Applies

• Changing project paradigm or core approach
• Modifying or adding Architectural Decision Records (ADRs)
• Abandoning a direction that has received significant investment
• Changing success metrics or project goals
• Adding heavyweight dependencies (new frameworks, services, databases)

Step 1: Document the Proposal

Create a proposal document with:

## Direction Change Proposal — [Date]

### What
[Describe the proposed change in 2-3 sentences]

### Why
[What problem does this solve? What evidence triggered this?]

### Evidence
- [Data point 1]
- [Data point 2]
- [Metric or observation that supports the change]

### What We're Giving Up
[What existing work, direction, or investment does this replace?]

### Reversibility
- Can this be reversed? [Yes / Partially / No]
- Cost of reversal: [Low / Medium / High]

### Alternatives Considered
1. [Alternative 1 — why rejected]
2. [Alternative 2 — why rejected]

Step 2: Run Challenger Review

Invoke the @challenger agent to adversarially review the proposal:

• Does the evidence actually support the change?
• What assumptions are we making?
• What's the opportunity cost?
• Would we choose this direction if starting fresh?

Step 3: Stakeholder Notification

This is a MUST escalate item per docs/constitution/PROCESS.md. Present the proposal and challenger review to the stakeholder and wait for explicit approval.

scripts/copilot-notify.sh "🚦 Direction Gate" "Strategic change proposed: [summary]. Review needed."

Step 4: Record Decision

If approved, document the decision:

# If it involves an ADR change
# Update docs/architecture/ADR.md with the new decision

# Comment on the relevant issue
gh issue comment <NUMBER> --body "Direction gate passed: [summary of decision]"

If rejected, document why and what alternative was chosen.

Checklist

• Proposal document created with evidence
• Challenger review completed
• Stakeholder notified and explicitly approved
• Decision recorded (ADR updated if applicable)
• Affected issues updated