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Decision Audit Trail

Skills used: CONCLAVE + MIRROR + ECHO

Debate it. Stress-test it. Record it. The bulletproof decision pipeline.

The Problem

Big architectural decisions deserve more than a gut feeling. But most teams either:

  1. Decide too fast — first idea wins, nobody challenges it
  2. Decide too slow — endless meetings, analysis paralysis, decision by committee

You need a process that's thorough but fast. Rigorous but practical.

The Pipeline

Step 1: CONCLAVE — Let Them Fight

/conclave Should we use a monorepo or polyrepo for the microservices?

9 voices. 2 rounds. The minimalist argues for simplicity. The systems thinker maps the dependencies. The chaos agent breaks your assumptions. The builder asks if you can actually maintain it.

You get a synthesized recommendation with dissenting opinions preserved.

Time: 2 minutes.

Step 2: MIRROR — Stress-Test the Winner

Take CONCLAVE's recommendation and throw it in the mirror:

/mirror The CONCLAVE recommends monorepo with Turborepo

MIRROR picks 3 challenge frameworks and genuinely argues against the recommendation:

  • Hidden Costs: Monorepo tooling overhead, CI complexity, blame diffusion
  • Failure Modes: One broken build blocks everyone, merge conflicts at scale
  • Reversibility: Splitting a monorepo later is painful — how painful?

If the recommendation survives MIRROR, it's solid. If it doesn't, you just saved yourself months of regret.

Time: 1 minute.

Step 3: ECHO — Carve It in Stone

The decision survived. Record it:

/echo create repo-architecture

Claude captures:

  • Decision: Monorepo with Turborepo
  • Reasoning: CONCLAVE synthesis + MIRROR survival
  • Alternatives: Polyrepo (rejected — coordination overhead), monolith (rejected — scaling concerns)
  • Confidence: 78%
  • Unknowns: CI performance at 20+ packages, developer onboarding friction

Time: 30 seconds.

Total Time: Under 4 Minutes

Compare that to a 45-minute architecture meeting where half the team is checked out and the decision is made by whoever talks loudest.

When to Use This

  • Technology selection (framework, database, hosting)
  • Architecture patterns (monolith vs micro, REST vs GraphQL)
  • Migration decisions (rewrite vs refactor vs abandon)
  • Any decision you'll need to justify in 6 months

Revisiting Decisions

Six months later, someone asks "why monorepo?"

/echo query "repo architecture"

Full context. Full reasoning. Full list of alternatives you already considered. No archaeology required.

Tips

Skip CONCLAVE for small decisions

Not everything needs 9 voices. For smaller calls, go straight to MIRROR → ECHO. Save CONCLAVE for the decisions that keep you up at night.

Record the unknowns

ECHO captures unknowns for a reason. Revisit them periodically. When an unknown becomes known, update the echo.

Confidence thresholds

Below 60% confidence? The decision isn't ready. Research more (RECON), debate more (CONCLAVE), or accept you're making a bet and document it honestly.