# Core Framework: Warp-Speed Decisioning

## The 3 Pillars

### 1. Scaffolding
Rules that automate recurring decisions. Pre-made defaults so you don't re-decide the same things.

**Components:**
- Design psychology reference (laws, principles)
- Economics fundamentals (market forces)
- Accessibility reference (WCAG/POUR)
- Default typefaces and type scale
- Icon library choice
- Design system reference
- Default design rules

### 2. Decisioning
Process for making new decisions when scaffolds don't apply.

**Workflow:**
1. Inform simplicity — gather minimum viable context
2. Narrow options — eliminate conflicts, prioritize alignment
3. Weigh information — institutional knowledge → familiarity → research
4. Arrive at decision — commit and document reasoning

### 3. Crafting
Checklists for executing decisions consistently.

**Types:**
- Checklists for new interfaces
- Checklists for improving fidelity
- Checklists for visual style
- Checklists for innovation

---

## The Decisioning Workflow (Detail)

### Step 1: What Does Institutional Knowledge Say?

Institutional knowledge = existing patterns, brand guidelines, tech stack, team capabilities, business constraints.

**Questions:**
- Does an existing component/pattern solve this?
- What does our design system prescribe?
- What are our technical constraints?
- What has leadership/stakeholders indicated?

**Rule:** Always check internal resources before external inspiration.

### Step 2: What Are Users Familiar With?

User familiarity = conventions from similar products, learned behaviors, competitor patterns.

**Questions:**
- What do competitors do for this pattern?
- What's the platform convention (iOS/Android/Web)?
- What prior experience do users bring?
- Jakob's Law: Users spend most time on *other* sites

**Rule:** Familiarity reduces cognitive load. Novelty requires justification.

### Step 3: What Does Research Say?

Research = user testing, analytics, academic studies, heuristic evaluation.

**Questions:**
- Do we have usability data on this pattern?
- What does instrumentation tell us?
- Are there published studies on this interaction?
- Have we tested this with users?

**Rule:** Research trumps opinion, but absence of research ≠ decision paralysis.

### Arriving at a Decision

After weighing all three sources:
1. If clear winner exists → choose it
2. If conflict exists → prioritize by macro bet alignment
3. If uncertainty remains → choose fastest to validate, plan to learn

**Document your reasoning.** Future you (and teammates) will thank you.

---

## Staging Your Bets

### Why Bets Matter

Every design decision is a bet. You're wagering time and resources on an outcome. The question is whether you're betting intentionally or accidentally.

### Macro vs. Micro Bets

**Macro bets** = Company-level strategic bets on how to win the market
**Micro bets** = Individual design decisions within an interface

**Critical Rule:** Micro bets are only valid when intentionally supporting macro bets.

### The 4 Categories of Macro Bets

| Category | We win by... | Design implications |
|----------|--------------|---------------------|
| **Velocity** | Getting features to market faster | Reduce time-to-delivery, reuse components, find metaphors in other markets |
| **Efficiency** | Managing waste better | Design systems, reuse patterns, reduce WIP |
| **Accuracy** | Being right more frequently | Stronger research, measure with instrumentation, discovery sprints |
| **Innovation** | Discovering untapped market potential | Uncover "fog of war" with better discovery, find parallels in other markets |

### How to Stage Your Bets

1. **Analyze your industry** — Level of competition, market maturity, disruption threats
2. **Analyze competitors** — Leading vs. lagging, their bets, their gaps
3. **Define customer goals** — Jobs-to-be-done statements
4. **Name your bets** — Explicit statements of what you're betting on and why

### Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) Format

```
When [situation],
I want to [motivation],
So I can [desired outcome].
```

**Good JTBD:** "When I get emails, I want to organize them so I don't lose important information."

**Bad JTBD:** "Let me add tags, labels, and folders to my email so I can sort things according to my system."

The difference: Good JTBD focuses on outcome, bad focuses on feature.

---

## Informing Simplicity

Before diving into design:

1. **Define 2-3 primary JTBD** — What are users trying to accomplish?
2. **Identify your macro bets** — Which category is the company prioritizing?
3. **Understand your constraints** — Time, team, tech, budget
4. **Know your competition** — Where are they winning/losing?

**Author's Note:** Do this fast or don't do it at all. Don't get stuck whiteboarding JTBD. Trust your intuition. The goal is informed speed, not perfect analysis.