The capstone
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Something real and slightly resistant
Twelve lessons of technique are inert until they meet a problem you actually care about.
Problem Solving & Decision Making · Lesson 7
Capstone: Solve a Real-World Challenge
intermediate⏱ 25 min · 7 cards
Work through it
Framework Walkthrough
The capstone framework, applied to a claim of your choosing.
Keep the write-up. Revisit it in a year and update it deliberately.
Ten steps, each checked before the next.
Worked fragment
The meeting that never decides
45 minutes scheduled, 80 actual, fewer than half of items ending with an owner. Root cause: items arrive undefined, so the meeting does definition work.
Chosen: pre-reads with written positions and a named decision-maker per item. Trade-off: 15 minutes of preparation each. Failure defined as pre-reads going unread twice.
Key term
The line that makes it real
What do you write before starting?
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What failure looks like
If every possible outcome would count as success, you have not made a decision — you have made a plan to feel good about whatever happens.
Nuance
The tempting skip
Maester Note
Most people skip step 5. They had a solution before step 1 and spend the rest of the process justifying it.
Quick check
What is 'resulting'?
You did it
Nice work
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