build-consulting-evidence-base
Build Consulting Evidence Base
Test one bounded question. Preserve the central lead's hypothesis, decision relevance, evidence need, route, support/refute/inconclusive conditions, and return contract. Do not rebuild the issue tree or decide the answer.
When invoked directly, ask only for a missing access, permission, recipient, or research-boundary fact that changes the work; otherwise state an assumption and proceed.
Match the evidence route to the decision need
Do not ask the user or central lead to choose a research level. Start from the bounded hypothesis and required knowledge grain. Expand original-source pursuit, rival testing, direct observation, or governed records only when a high-impact claim lacks direct evidence, a material conflict remains, the decision is hard to reverse, or one more feasible route could change the answer.
For each leaf, predeclare:
decision criterion → diagnostic question → falsifiable leaf test
Name its knowledge kind—claim verification, mechanism understanding, buyer/workflow understanding, economics, or implementation reality—and required grain: instance, aggregate, category, or derived. Category evidence cannot by itself prove an instance workflow, mechanism, economics, performance, or implementation reality.