The Reasoning Lattice
Seven areas for making a judgment examinable. A complement to experience, intuition, evidence, values and the frameworks a leader already uses.
This is an exploratory framing aid. It is distinct from the handbook’s seven-step Signal Lattice protocol and does not claim validated decision improvement.
- 01
Context and initial interpretation
What is the situation, boundary and time horizon?
State your current account before adding a new lens. Experience can supply a useful starting interpretation; it need not be the final one.
- 02
Evidence and signals
What is observed, and what is inferred?
Distinguish a measurement from the explanation attached to it. Identify signals that would matter to this decision.
- 03
Values and principles
What matters, and what boundaries apply?
Name responsibilities, values and acceptable trade-offs. A model cannot decide which commitments ought to govern the choice.
- 04
Relevant mental models
Which lens might expose a different mechanism?
Select models for their fit to the situation, not their prestige. Familiar experience and an unfamiliar lens can inform each other.
- 05
Hidden assumptions and counterarguments
What must be true—and what is the strongest contrary account?
Ask a thinking partner to examine assumptions, missing alternatives and the possibility that your preferred model is irrelevant.
- 06
Second-order consequences
What could the response change elsewhere or later?
Consider feedback, dependencies and effects on people or incentives beyond the immediate target.
- 07
Conditions that would change the judgment
What evidence, threshold or review would make you reconsider?
Keep the judgment revisable. Record an observable reason to change course, rather than asking only for more confidence.