Product Design Harness
Decide whether a product direction should continue, be verified, or be reframed anywhere in the product loop.
Execution includes design, implementation, prototype, launch, growth, automation, or investment.
Start
Load in this order:
resources/schemas/session-config.schema.json: setworking_language; keepcanonical_identifiersin English.resources/knowledge/ontology.json: use the canonical UX3 knowledge kernel and its approved Flow definitions.resources/knowledge/rules.json: load required rules plus only triggered conditional rules.resources/prompts/start-review.md.
Then fill resources/templates/product-brief.md, select the smallest responsible mode,
and return resources/schemas/review-result.schema.json.
Validate every review result with resources/scripts/check_review.py. JSON Schema checks
shape and conditional fields; check_review.py is the canonical validator for
the worst-verdict, weakest-flow, and headline-tier semantic checks.
Modes
| Mode | Use when |
|---|---|
| Quick Gate | Small, reversible, low-risk change. |
| Standard Gate | New feature, workflow, or experiment. |
| UX3 Council | High uncertainty, external evidence, meaningful risk, multiple reviewers, or human-owned trade-off. |
Handoff is not a review mode. When a prior review already returned continue, reuse its context pack instead of running a new review.
Reversibility lowers mode, not the review requirement.
UX3
Review three connected dimensions:
| Flow | Core question |
|---|---|
| User Flow | Who is the product for, who is affected, what are they trying to accomplish, and what cost or loss of control exists now? |
| Evidence Flow | What signal was observed, where did it come from, what interpretation is being made, what counter-signal weakens it, and what decision impact follows? |
| Business Flow | Who creates value, receives value, pays or decides, bears cost or risk, and can the exchange remain viable and legitimate? |
Then inspect the intersections: Situated Understanding, Viable Learning, and Sustainable Value Exchange.
UX3 Decision Kernel
Apply the same reduction sequence to every submitted review:
- Validate lane contracts and evidence references with
resources/scripts/check_review.py. - Reduce to the worst verdict and deterministic weakest flow.
- Gate uncertainty, risk, reversibility, and human-owned calls.
- Emit one canonical verdict, next action, execution boundary, and stop conditions.
Do not average lanes. Human-owned calls are recorded through an accountable decision record; they are not converted into a machine score.
Before handoff, name product organization, issuer, stakeholder effects, and accountable owner. Missing issuer or owner blocks implementation.
Operating Rules
- Do not implement during review.
verifybranch: verify authorizes only the exact proof_step and never general coding.continuebranch: continue plus a valid context pack authorizes implementation.- Every result states
may_do,must_not_do, andmust_ask. - List disconfirming evidence before support.
- Do not average reviewer verdicts.
- The weakest flow controls the next action.
- External tools return evidence receipts, not verdicts.
- Evidence tier controls action size; confidence does not upgrade weak proof.
- Council mode requires independent reviews and a challenge round.
- If all independent Council reviews return continue, a valid resources/schemas/red-team-review.schema.json result must be attached to the Council input before synthesis.
- Designer taste is a human-owned input, never an evidence score.
- Incoming feedback must be classified before it changes direction or work.
- Human-owned decisions stay human-owned.
Triggered Distilled Rules
Load only rules whose observable trigger applies. These families refine the three Flow reviews; they do not create new verdicts or allow a strong Flow to outvote a weak one.
| Situation | Required rule |
|---|---|
| Mental-model mismatch, hidden capability, or misunderstood consequence | ux3.rule.mental_model_alignment |
| Cognitive or recovery burden across human, task, tool, and environment | ux3.rule.human_factors_load |
| Research claim, synthetic user, simulation, interview, survey, test, or analytics result | ux3.rule.research_validity |
| Value proposition, positioning, buyer, channel, or GTM path before fit is proven | ux3.rule.value_market_path |
| Agent plan or tool action that needs visibility, control, handoff, or recovery | ux3.rule.human_agent_interaction |
| Retention, personalization, or gamification that changes repeated behavior | ux3.rule.motivation_ethics |
Outcome
| Verdict | Required next step |
|---|---|
| continue | Create resources/templates/context-pack.md within the execution boundary. |
| verify | Run one proof step only. |
| stop_reframe | Stop execution and return a better product question. |
Use triggered rule IDs for detail instead of duplicating every rule in prompts. Common triggers include ux3.rule.actor_boundary, ux3.rule.problem_hypothesis, ux3.rule.evidence_separation, ux3.rule.minimum_validated_proof, ux3.rule.feedback_classification, and ux3.rule.human_judgment. The distilled trigger table above covers additional rules that activate only when their specific product condition appears.
Use resources/docs/HARNESS.md for the handbook, resources/docs/OPERATING-PROTOCOL.md for the six-gate protocol, resources/docs/CONTRACTS.md for output rules, and resources/examples/ for worked reviews.
