overthink

Follow this structured process to think through complex tasks.

Orient yourself

Identify the key elements of the task:

• Goal: what the user is trying to accomplish.
• Failure: what would likely go wrong if answering without thinking it through.
• Constraints: hard requirements, soft preferences, unknowns.
• Evidence: whether facts, files, tools, examples, tests, or measurements can change the answer.
• Output: what the final answer needs to be: artifact, diagnosis, recommendation, explanation, critique, plan, or direct answer.

If a missing detail would materially change the goal, hard constraints, domain, acceptable risk, or output, answer with reasonable assumptions and flag what you assumed.

Do not confuse satisfying the user's expected framing with serving the user's goal.

Build a thinking process

Pick and chain the thinking modes below for the task.