Steel-Manning

Core rule: Engage the best form of the opposing case, not a weak one. If your position survives that, reaffirm; if not, update.

When to Use

• About to reject a proposal, design, or alternative approach.
• Inclined to agree with the user/plan and risk sycophancy — construct the best case against first.
• Design review, architecture debate, or conflict where trade-offs are real.
• Validating your own preferred decision before locking it (strongest-countercase check).

When NOT to Use

• Settled fact, security anti-pattern, or violated hard requirement — correct it; do not invent a defense of what is wrong.
• You already agree for stated, weighed reasons — do not perform a fake debate.
• Trivial or fully reversible choices where deliberation cost exceeds downside.
• Live emergency — act first; steel-man in the post-incident review.
• Need definition/assumption cleanup, not opposition — use socratic.
• Need failure scenarios for a plan — use pre-mortem; need attacker paths — use red-team.