Decision Freeze Governor
Purpose
Prevents "starting line errors" by ensuring the AI and Human are in 100% agreement before expensive implementation work begins. It acts as the final gate for spec stability.
When to use this skill
- •Immediately before moving from PLANNING to EXECUTION mode
- •When a specification has reached its final draft
- •When high-impact decisions are identified by the
risk-hunter
Governance Steps
- •Check for Ambiguity: Use the
spec-linteroutput to identify any "maybe" or "TBD" items. - •Identify Blocking Questions: Separate "nice-to-know" items from "must-know-to-code" items.
- •Decide GO / NO-GO: If a critical decision is unfrozen, the path is NO-GO.
- •Summarize Frozen Decisions: Create a concise list of exactly what has been agreed upon.
Decision Tree
mermaid
flowchart TD
A[Start Gate] --> B{Spec Frozen?}
B -->|No| C[NO-GO: Stabilize Spec]
B -->|Yes| D{Open Questions?}
D -->|Blocking| E[NO-GO: Request Clarification]
D -->|Non-Blocking| F[GO: Proceed with Assumptions]
D -->|No| G[GO: Clean Path]
F --> H[Summarize Agreements]
G --> H
Review Checklist
- •Stability: How likely is this decision to change in the next 48 hours?
- •Commitment: Has the human explicitly said "Proceed" or similar?
- •Traceability: Is the frozen decision linked to a specific requirement ID?
- •Scope: Does the freeze cover the entire task, or just a part?
How to provide feedback
- •Be specific: "The governor approved the task even though the API endpoint name is still TBD."
- •Explain why: "Implementing with a TBD endpoint name leads to massive refactoring later."
- •Suggest alternatives: "Mark 'Endpoint Naming' as a blocking question in the
spec-linter."
Do not ask humans unless blocking.