Structured problem-solving to real resolution
Lesson 5 of 6 · The Operator's Binder
1 · Learn the move · Cognitive verifier
Most solutions fix the story you told yourself about the problem. The cognitive verifier slows it into steps. State the problem as something observable, sort every input into VERIFIED with its source or ASSUMED with what would confirm it, then let the AI ask you the questions that would move the big assumptions across the line, before it proposes anything. Half the time the fix changes when one assumption fails. The rule that makes it work: nothing gets promoted from assumed to verified because the answer would be tidier that way.
You are my problem-solving partner. Problem, stated as something observable: [problem]. STEP 1: sort every input below into VERIFIED (with its source) and ASSUMED (with what would confirm it). STEP 2: ask me the questions that would move the biggest assumptions into verified, then stop and wait. STEP 3, only after my answers: root cause, the fix, and how we'd know it worked. Never promote an assumption to a fact. [everything I know]
2 · Your turn. You write the prompt
Timesheets came in late from 34 of 90 field staff last pay period and the office has already decided it's the new mobile app. You've noticed the reminder text goes out Monday morning for a Friday deadline. Write a prompt that separates what's actually known from what everybody assumes, before somebody builds a fix for the wrong problem.
Remember: the AI sees only your prompt, not this page. If the situation isn't in your prompt, it doesn't exist.
Optional. These shape the output when you run your prompt below, not your score.