Putting It All Together
If you have read this section from start to finish, you now understand enough to use Feedback Loops correctly.
Not perfectly. Correctly.
That distinction matters.
What You Should Understand Now
At this point, you should have a clear mental model of:
- why Feedback Loops exists
- what problem it is designed to solve
- how the stages fit together
- what kind of thinking belongs in each stage
- where the system intentionally stops
You are not expected to remember templates, prompts, or terminology.
You are expected to recognise when clarity exists and when it does not.
The Full Arc, Revisited
Feedback Loops exists to take you from:
- unclear problems
- hidden disagreement
- unstable language
to:
- validated problems
- intentional commitment
- stable business meaning
It does this by forcing:
- explicit questions
- explicit decisions
- explicit ownership
Nothing more. Nothing less.
Where People Usually Go Wrong
Most failures of Feedback Loops are not caused by misunderstanding the steps.
They are caused by violating the core disciplines:
- moving forward while meaning is still unstable
- treating artifacts as paperwork
- avoiding explicit decisions
- slipping into solution thinking too early
When this happens, the fix is not to push harder.
The fix is to slow down and move backward.
How to Use This Documentation Going Forward
From here on, your primary home is the Playbook.
Use:
- Playbook to run the system
- Quick Reference to refresh concepts
- Deep Dive when something feels off
If you find yourself rereading the Deep Dive often, something upstream is unstable.
That is a signal, not a failure.
What Success Actually Looks Like
When Feedback Loops is working:
- early work feels deliberate
- later work feels obvious
- disagreements surface early
- decisions are traceable
- design becomes translation
The system feels boring.
That boredom is clarity.
A Final Reality Check
Feedback Loops will not make hard decisions easy.
It will make them unavoidable.
It will not eliminate disagreement.
It will prevent disagreement from hiding.
If you engage with it honestly, it will save time.
If you fight it, it will slow you down.
Both outcomes are intentional.
The Only Rule That Matters
If you remember nothing else, remember this:
Do not move forward while meaning is still unstable.
Every stage, every artifact, every decision exists to enforce that rule.
Your Next Step
Stop reading.
Open the Playbook.
Run the system.
When it feels uncomfortable, you are probably doing it right.