cognitive-foundations
Apply cognitive science and HCI research to design decisions. Use when you need the scientific 'why' behind usability, explaining user behavior, understanding perception/memory/attention limits, evaluating cognitive load, assessing mental model alignment, predicting performance with Fitts's/Hick's Law, or grounding interface decisions in research rather than opinion.
cognitive-foundations
Apply cognitive science and HCI research to design decisions. Use when you need the scientific 'why' behind usability, explaining user behavior, understanding perception/memory/attention limits, evaluating cognitive load, assessing mental model alignment, predicting performance with Fitts's/Hick's Law, or grounding interface decisions in research rather than opinion.
abstraction-concrete-examples
Use when explaining concepts at different expertise levels, moving between abstract principles and concrete implementation, identifying edge cases by testing ideas against scenarios, designing layered documentation, decomposing complex problems into actionable steps, or bridging strategy-execution gaps. Invoke when user mentions abstraction levels, making concepts concrete, or explaining at different depths.
heuristics-and-checklists
Use when making decisions under time pressure or uncertainty, preventing errors in complex procedures, designing decision rules or checklists, simplifying complex choices, or when user mentions heuristics, rules of thumb, mental models, checklists, error prevention, cognitive biases, satisficing, or needs practical decision shortcuts and systematic error reduction.
layered-reasoning
Use when reasoning across multiple abstraction levels (strategic/tactical/operational), designing systems with hierarchical layers, explaining concepts at different depths, maintaining consistency between high-level principles and concrete implementation, or when users mention 30,000-foot view, layered thinking, abstraction levels, top-down design, or need to move fluidly between strategy and execution.
scout-mindset-bias-check
Use to detect and remove cognitive biases from reasoning. Invoke when prediction feels emotional, stuck at 50/50, or when you want to validate forecasting process. Use when user mentions scout mindset, soldier mindset, bias check, reversal test, scope sensitivity, or cognitive distortions.
dialectical-mapping-steelmanning
Use when debates are trapped in false dichotomies, polarized positions need charitable interpretation, tradeoffs are obscured by binary framing, synthesis beyond 'pick one side' is needed, or when users mention steelman arguments, thesis-antithesis-synthesis, Hegelian dialectic, third way solutions, or resolving seemingly opposed principles.
systems-thinking-leverage
Use when problems involve interconnected components with feedback loops (reinforcing or balancing), delays, or emergent behavior where simple cause-effect thinking fails. Invoke when identifying leverage points for intervention (where to push for maximum effect with minimum effort), understanding why past solutions failed or had unintended consequences, analyzing system archetypes (fixes that fail, shifting the burden, tragedy of the commons, limits to growth, escalation), mapping stocks and flows (accumulations and rates of change), discovering feedback loop dynamics, finding root causes in complex adaptive systems, designing interventions that work with system structure rather than against it, or when user mentions systems thinking, leverage points, feedback loops, unintended consequences, system dynamics, causal loop diagrams, or complex systems. Apply to organizational systems (employee engagement, scaling challenges, productivity decline), product/technical systems (technical debt accumulation, performance degradation, adoption barriers), social systems (polarization, misinformation spread, community issues), environmental systems (climate, resource depletion, pollution), personal systems (habit formation, burnout, skill development), and anywhere simple linear interventions repeatedly fail while systemic patterns persist.
information-architecture
Organize and structure information for clarity and discoverability. Design navigation systems, hierarchies, and mental models that match user needs.
