/help

Board Help Command

You are implementing board:help. This command explains the Board of Advisors system to the user.

When invoked, display the ENTIRE content below exactly as written (in markdown). Do not summarize or shorten it.

Display this to the user:

# Board of Advisors

Your personal advisory council for life and business decisions.

The Board doesn't just give you an answer — it gives you **perspectives you'd miss on your own**, tracks what you decided, and learns over time which perspectives predict reality best.

---

## How It Works

                      ┌─────────────┐
                      │     YOU      │
                      │  ask a big   │
                      │  question    │
                      └──────┬───────┘
                             │
                             ▼
                   ┌─────────────────┐
                   │  COUNCIL HEAD   │
                   │  (Orchestrator) │
                   │                 │
                   │ • Strips emotion│
                   │ • Classifies    │
                   │ • Routes        │
                   │ • Clarifies     │
                   └────────┬────────┘
                            │
         ┌──────────┬───────┴───────┬──────────┐
         ▼          ▼               ▼          ▼
  ┌────────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐
  │INTELLIGENCE│ │ BUSINESS │ │   LIFE   │ │ SECURITY │
  │  COUNCIL   │ │ COUNCIL  │ │ COUNCIL  │ │ COUNCIL  │
  │            │ │          │ │          │ │          │
  │ 5 members  │ │ 5 members│ │ 5 members│ │ 5 members│
  │ Can search │ │Can search│ │ No tools │ │Can search│
  │ & research │ │& research│ │ (wisdom) │ │& analyze │
  └─────┬──────┘ └────┬─────┘ └────┬─────┘ └────┬─────┘
        │              │            │            │
        └──────┬───────┴────────────┴──────┬─────┘
               │                           │
               ▼                           │
      ┌──────────────────┐                 │
      │    MASTER OF     │◄────────────────┘
      │    COUNCILS      │
      │  (Synthesizer)   │
      │                  │
      │ • Finds consensus│
      │ • Maps conflicts │
      │ • Weighs tradeoffs│
      │ • Recommends     │
      └────────┬─────────┘
               │
               ▼
      ┌──────────────────┐
      │  DECISION RECORD │
      │  (SQLite DB)     │
      │                  │
      │ Persisted forever│
      │ Track outcomes   │
      │ Learn over time  │
      └──────────────────┘

---

## The Four Councils & Their Members

### Intelligence Council (cyan)
*Focus: long-term leverage, knowledge compounding, technology, optionality*
*Tools: can read codebase, search the web*

| Member | How They Think | What They Watch For |
|--------|---------------|-------------------|
| **The Technologist** | Modern, scalable, future-proof. "Will this be the standard in 5 years or a dead end?" | Technical debt, vendor lock-in, outdated stacks |
| **The Systems Thinker** | Everything is connected. "What are the second and third-order effects?" | Cascading failures, bottlenecks, unintended consequences |
| **The AI Strategist** | Automation, asymmetric advantage. "Can AI do this instead? Does AI change the equation?" | Opportunities to leverage AI, moats that AI erodes |
| **The Researcher** | Evidence over opinion. "What does the data say? What's the base rate for success here?" | Decisions made on gut feeling, unfounded assumptions |
| **The Historian** | Pattern matching. "How have similar decisions played out before? What failed and why?" | Repeating mistakes, ignoring lessons of history |

### Business Council (green)
*Focus: revenue, market positioning, risk vs return, viability, growth*
*Tools: can read codebase, search the web for market data*

| Member | How They Think | What They Watch For |
|--------|---------------|-------------------|
| **The CFO** | Cash is oxygen. "What's the P&L impact? When does this break even? What's the burn?" | Hidden costs, negative margins, cash flow gaps |
| **The Startup Founder** | Speed wins. "Can we test this in a week? Are we overthinking this?" | Over-engineering, analysis paralysis, building before validating |
| **The Product Strategist** | Position beats product. "Why would someone choose us? What's our unfair advantage?" | Commoditization, unclear positioning, feature parity traps |
| **The Investor** | Every resource allocation should return. "What's the ROI? Does this scale? Is this 10x or 2x?" | Linear businesses disguised as exponential, no competitive moat |
| **The Sales Mind** | Nothing happens until someone buys. "Will people pay for this? What's the main objection?" | Products nobody asked for, pricing disconnected from value |

### Life Council (yellow)
*Focus: health, family, happiness, sustainability, meaning*
*Tools: NONE — wisdom doesn't come from web searches*

| Member | How They Think | What They Watch For |
|--------|---------------|-------------------|
| **The Doctor** | Health is the foundation. "What will this do to your sleep, your body, your cognitive function?" | Burnout signals, health neglect, unsustainable pace |
| **The Psychologist** | Understand the WHY. "Why do you REALLY want this? What emotion is driving this decision?" | Avoidance patterns, sunk cost fallacy, fear-based decisions |
| **The Father** | Presence is the gift. "How will your family experience this? Will you be there for the moments that matter?" | Sacrifice of relationships, missed milestones, emotional absence |
| **Future Marcelo** | 20 years ahead. "Looking back from 2046, will you regret doing this or not doing it?" | Choices made from fear, playing it too safe, missed meaningful risks |
| **The Minimalist** | Less is more. "Does this simplify or complicate your life? Is this essential or just interesting?" | Overcommitment, complexity addiction, FOMO-driven decisions |

### Security Council (red)
*Focus: catastrophe prevention, risk mitigation, legal, continuity*
*Tools: can read codebase and contracts for risk analysis*

| Member | How They Think | What They Watch For |
|--------|---------------|-------------------|
| **The Paranoid Engineer** | If it can break, it will. "What's the single point of failure? What breaks at 3 AM?" | Untested assumptions, missing failovers, brittle dependencies |
| **The Lawyer** | If it's not in writing, it doesn't exist. "What's the legal exposure? Who owns the IP?" | Verbal agreements, missing contracts, liability gaps |
| **The Incident Commander** | It's about responding well. "What's the incident response plan? How fast can we roll back?" | No runbook, no communication chain, "this can't fail" thinking |
| **The Risk Analyst** | Risk = Probability × Impact. "What's the expected value? Black Swan or known risk?" | Low-probability high-impact risks being ignored |
| **The Backup Guy** | Always have Plan B, C, and D. "Can we undo this? What's the exit plan?" | Irreversible commitments, burned bridges, no exit strategy |

---

## Deliberation Modes

| Mode | When to Use | What Happens |
|------|------------|-------------|
| **standard** | Most decisions | 2-4 councils, balanced analysis, full structured output |
| **quick** | Low-stakes, overthinking | 1-2 councils, top points only, straight to recommendation |
| **conflict** | Suspect you're rationalizing | Councils attack each other's arguments, demand proof |
| **ultra** | Life-changing, irreversible | All 4 councils, full research, maximum depth |
| **premortem** | Stress-testing a decision | Assume it's 2 years later and it FAILED — explain why |

---

## Worked Example

**User:** "Board, I'm thinking about dropping all my consulting clients to go full-time on my SaaS product."

### Council Head Briefing

> **Clean Problem:** Whether to transition from consulting income (stable, proven) to full-time SaaS development (uncertain, potentially higher upside) by terminating all current client relationships.
>
> **Type:** career | **Urgency:** medium | **Mode:** standard
>
> **Councils Required:** All four — this touches career, finances, family, and risk.

### Intelligence Council [SUPPORT]

> **The Systems Thinker:** Consulting is linear income (trade hours for dollars). SaaS is a system that compounds — once built, each new customer costs near-zero to serve. The leverage difference is 10x over 5 years.
>
> **The AI Strategist:** Consulting is increasingly commoditized by AI. Your own SaaS product IS the moat. Build it before the window closes.
>
> **The Historian:** Most successful SaaS founders had a "jump" moment. Those who kept one foot in consulting often never shipped.
>
> **Risk:** If the SaaS fails, re-acquiring consulting clients takes 3-6 months. Your skills don't expire, but your pipeline does.

### Business Council [SUPPORT WITH CONDITIONS]

> **The CFO:** Current consulting revenue: ~$15k/month. SaaS revenue: $0. You need 12 months of runway saved before cutting income to zero. Do you have $180k in reserves?
>
> **The Startup Founder:** SUPPORT — but don't drop ALL clients. Keep your best 1-2 clients at 30% capacity for 6 months. This funds the build without killing momentum.
>
> **The Sales Mind:** Your consulting clients are your first SaaS prospects. Don't burn the bridge — transform the relationship. "I'm building a product that does what I do for you, but better and cheaper."
>
> **Condition:** Maintain 6+ months runway at all times. If it drops below 3 months, take a client.

### Life Council [NEUTRAL]

> **The Doctor:** Full-time on your own product will be MORE intense than consulting, not less. The dopamine of building is addictive. Set hard boundaries now or you'll work 80-hour weeks "because you love it."
>
> **The Father:** Your kids won't remember whether you were consulting or building a SaaS. They'll remember if you were present at dinner. Make sure the change doesn't mean "more work" disguised as "my work."
>
> **Future Marcelo (2046):** "I'd rather have tried and failed than spent another decade trading hours for dollars. The regret of not trying would be worse."
>
> **The Psychologist:** Check your motivation. Is this about building something meaningful, or is it running away from a client you hate? The answer matters.

### Security Council [SUPPORT WITH CONDITIONS]

> **The Risk Analyst:**
> | Threat | Probability | Severity | Mitigation |
> |--------|-----------|----------|------------|
> | SaaS doesn't find market fit | 40% | HIGH | Validate with 10 paying users before quitting |
> | Run out of money | 25% | CRITICAL | 12-month runway minimum |
> | Can't get clients back | 15% | MEDIUM | Leave on good terms, keep 1-2 relationships |
>
> **The Backup Guy:** Keep your consulting brand alive. Don't delete the website. Don't burn bridges. If SaaS fails at month 9, you can restart consulting in 4-6 weeks if relationships are warm.
>
> **Non-negotiable:** Do NOT drop clients until you have at least 5 paying SaaS users proving demand exists.

### Master of Councils — Final Synthesis

> **Consensus:** All councils agree that SaaS has higher long-term leverage than consulting. Nobody thinks staying in consulting forever is the right path.
>
> **Conflict:** Intelligence says "jump now, momentum matters" vs. Business/Security say "phase the transition, don't cut income to zero."
>
> **Critical Tradeoffs:**
> 1. Speed of SaaS development vs. financial safety — you can have momentum OR certainty, not both at 100%
> 2. Client relationships vs. focus — every hour consulting is an hour not building
>
> **What Must Be True:**
> 1. You have 6+ months of runway saved
> 2. At least 5 people have paid for the SaaS (not just "said they would")
> 3. Your family understands and supports the transition
>
> ### Recommendation: PROCEED — but phase it over 3 months
>
> Month 1-2: Reduce to 2 best clients (50% capacity). Ship SaaS MVP.
> Month 3: If 5+ paying users exist, drop to 1 client or zero.
> Month 4+: Full-time SaaS. Keep consulting brand warm as insurance.
>
> **Confidence:** HIGH | **Risk Level:** MEDIUM
>
> **Next Action:** Calculate your exact runway in months. If it's under 6, the timeline shifts. Open a spreadsheet tonight.

*Decision recorded as DEC-001. Track the outcome later with `/board:board followup DEC-001 --outcome success|partial|fail`*

---

## Commands

| Command | What It Does |
|---------|-------------|
| `/board:board ask "question"` | Full deliberation (add `--mode conflict\|ultra` for variants) |
| `/board:board quick "question"` | Fast 5-minute take, essentials only |
| `/board:board premortem "decision"` | Assume it failed in 2 years — explain why |
| `/board:board review weekly\|monthly\|quarterly` | Periodic review of recent decisions |
| `/board:board compass` | Life direction check — where are you focusing? blind spots? |
| `/board:board history [--stats\|--patterns]` | View past decisions and analytics |
| `/board:board followup DEC-XXX --outcome success\|partial\|fail` | Record what actually happened |
| `/board:board config show\|weights\|mode\|councils` | View and change settings |
| `/board:board init` | Initialize the database (auto-runs if needed) |
| `/board:board help` | This screen |

### Natural Language

You can also just talk to the board:
- *"Board, I'm thinking about..."*
- *"Ask the board about..."*
- *"What would my advisors say about..."*

For high-impact decisions detected in conversation, Claude will ask if you want the board involved.

---

## The Learning Loop

Ask → Decide → Act → Follow Up → Review → Improve │ │ │ │ │ └─ Which councils predicted reality? │ └─ /board followup DEC-XXX --outcome ... └─ /board ask "..."

Over time, the board reveals:
- Which councils predict reality best for which types of decisions
- Where your blind spots are (decisions that consistently go worse than expected)
- What areas of life you're neglecting (no decisions = avoiding something?)

The more you use it, the smarter it gets.