Intent to
governed plan.
Describe what should be true, not a workflow. Formation runs that intent as an outer loop of steps. Competition and Huddle are formation patterns inside it, including parallel attempts with different resources or approaches.
Express outcomes, inspect evidence, and exercise explicit authority.
helms.zoneDescribe what should be true in Truth specs and check the specification.
axioms.zoneRuns an intent for several steps. Only promoted facts carry into the next step.
formation.zoneShared context, facts, authority boundaries, and governed promotions.
converge.zoneAn intent runs for several steps.
Each step proposes a closed set of sub-paths, seats choose which to run, and those run together as formations. Only promoted facts cross into the next step. A seat's judgment is evidence; it does not grant authority to commit.
Should Reflective Labs enter the Nordic mid-market, and if so, how?
Roles, cost, and coverage follow the Atelier formation-loop scenario. Those numbers are host hints, not measured cost. Two sub-paths run at once. A hard limit stops the loop even when a seat would continue.
Reading the carried facts, then opening a frontier.
Carried facts
Nothing has been promoted yet. Proposals do not cross a step.
Only promoted facts seed the next step.
A plan meets skeptics before it reaches the engine.
Five kinds of skepticism put candidate plans under pressure: assumptions, constraints, causal effects, economics, and operations. Rejected proposals and their evidence remain in history, even when they no longer belong in the current selection.
Five Kinds of Skepticism
Findings
Outcomes improve later plans, not authority.
Compare expected and actual outcomes, then revise the shared model for later attempts. Recording an episode alone is not learning. New knowledge does not rewrite an existing commitment or erase an unsuccessful attempt.
Illustrative episodes
Revise the shared model
It does not rewrite commitments.
Zero, one, or several attempts may reach a favorable fixed point: a stable result that meets the declared outcome and evidence requirements. If none does, record what happened and try a changed budget, formation, or approach. Selection and authorized commitment are separate steps.
Four layers. Formation is the intelligence layer.
Helm
Control surface
Where operators describe outcomes, inspect evidence, and exercise authority.
helms.zoneAxiom
Specification layer
Checks Truth specs without granting authority or proving the desired outcome.
axioms.zoneFormation
Intelligence layer
Runs an intent across steps. Only promoted facts carry into the next step.
formation.zoneConverge
Convergence kernel
The low-level contract for shared context, facts, authority boundaries, and promotions.
converge.zoneRuntime-Runway supplies surrounding capabilities such as messaging and storage. The composed environment can be understood as an operating system for intent; Converge alone is its kernel.
Selecting a plan does not bind the organization without an explicit mandate. Converge enforces the authority boundary.