The irreducible epistemic atoms underlying the curriculum. 4,828 atoms across 8 types and 2 molecules
Before beginning deliberation on any decision, classify it as one-way door (irreversible/high-stakes) or two-way door (reversible/low-stakes) and allocate analysis time proportionally—minutes to hours for two-way doors, days to weeks for one-way doors.
For reversible decisions, act when you have 50-60% of desired information because experiential learning from outcomes typically exceeds information gain from additional deliberation.
When facing a one-way door decision, actively search for ways to restructure it into a two-way door through trial periods, exit clauses, smaller pilots, or phased rollouts before committing to the heavyweight deliberation process.
When implementing feature flags, canary deployments, or A/B tests, treat the deployment decision as a two-way door by defining rollback metrics and automated reversal triggers before deployment.
Apply the irreversibility test to every delegation candidate: if the decision can be reversed at low cost within one week, delegate it regardless of its perceived importance; if reversal is expensive or impossible, retain it for your direct judgment.