LearnDictionary
The Dictionary
Every term in both methods, each defined on its own page. 69 terms.
Resolute
The method
The ideas the whole method hangs from.
The Resolute MethodResolute is a thinking system for building a business that does not depend on you.The Resolute Leadership CurveThe six stages every organisation climbs: Idea, Identity, Calibrate, Maturity, Mastery, Initiate.The 12 QuestionsSeven questions of leadership and five of management: the operating core of the Resolute method.The 7 Questions of LeadershipThe seven leadership questions of the Resolute method. Creating change — refining the core of the organisation toward a better future state.The 5 Questions of ManagementThe five management questions of the Resolute method. Executing the present — taking the current plan and delivering the outcomes.
The Leadership Curve
The six stages of growth, in order.
Idea (stage)The Idea stage is not about having an idea — everyone has those.Identity (stage)Identity is the search for fit — finding your role in a market that did not ask for you.Calibrate (stage)Calibrate is where the business adds people, skills and systems — and discovers whether they cohere or fragment.Maturity (stage)Maturity is where growth becomes repeatable and fundable — predictable ROI rather than lucky quarters.Mastery (stage)Mastery is market leadership — and the discipline to refuse to coast.Initiate (stage)Initiate is the decision to start the next curve while the current one is still strong — not after the slowdown shows.
The 7 Questions of Leadership
Creating change — refining the core of the organisation toward a better future state.
Vision & PurposeLeadership question 1 of the Resolute method: What is our vision, is it driven by our purpose, and what is holding us back from reaching it?Market & CustomerLeadership question 2 of the Resolute method: What is our market, who is our ideal customer, what do they value, and what perceptions do we need to build?Strategy & PositioningLeadership question 3 of the Resolute method: What is our strategy, where is our growth focused, and how do we improve our positioning?Business Model & ValueLeadership question 4 of the Resolute method: What is our business model, is it creating value, what metrics tell us this, and what practices improve our value proposition?Customer ExperienceLeadership question 5 of the Resolute method: What is our customer's experience, how do we acquire, retain and grow customers through our journey and promise, and what improvements need to be made?Employee ExperienceLeadership question 6 of the Resolute method: What is our employee's experience, how do we acquire, retain and grow talent through our journey and promise, and what improvements need to be made?Focus & Strategic GoalsLeadership question 7 of the Resolute method: What are the one, two or three things that, if delivered this quarter or half, will shift the needle on the business?
The 5 Questions of Management
Executing the present — taking the current plan and delivering the outcomes.
Plan & MetricsManagement question 1 of the Resolute method: What is our plan, and what metrics tell us if we are succeeding?Roles & AccountabilityManagement question 2 of the Resolute method: What roles does the plan require, and who is accountable for what?Goals & OutcomesManagement question 3 of the Resolute method: What goals must each role achieve this quarter, half or year?Meetings & Problem-SolvingManagement question 4 of the Resolute method: What meetings do we need, and how do we solve problems together?Data & MeasurementManagement question 5 of the Resolute method: What data do we need to measure progress and steer the business?
The four elements
Character and Values hold the line; Skills and Systems move with the world.
CharacterWho you are: the inner reality your thoughts, decisions and behaviour are rooted in — who you are when no one is watching.ValuesWhat you stand for: how you believe people ought to behave — the standard you decide by.SkillsWhat you can do: the craft of changemaking — strategy, communication, decision-making.SystemsWhat you build so it scales beyond you: the frameworks that scale skill across an organisation — plans, roles, goals, meetings, data.
The foundational principles
The five principles of the Leadership Curve.
Real growth is earned, not boughtHigh-value growth is layered over time — each stage developing the character, skills and systems that become the foundation for the next.Lead people; manage thingsLeadership and management are different crafts.Values reveal character, character scales cultureThe values you live — not the ones on the wall — expose your real character.Skills scale systems, systems scale efficiencyThe right competencies at each stage build layer upon layer of institutional capability.Questions are more valuable than answersGreat leaders are defined by the questions they ask, not the answers they hand down.
C² Method
Core ideas
From the C² Method concepts.
P = aic²Productivity = AI × (Context × Code). A mnemonic, not a law of physics — the "squared" is the two Cs, not a literal exponent. Your output is the AI crew multiplied by the Context and Code you build around it.The two CsContext and Code — the two systems C² optimises, and the two letters in C². They multiply; if either is zero, productivity collapses.ContextbaseWhat guides: briefs, patterns, gotchas, decisions. Written as you work, committed to git, read by the AI before it acts. It compounds.CodebaseWhat runs: the software itself. Richer context makes sharper code; cleaner code surfaces sharper context.Pilot / CrewThe human is the pilot — sets course, reviews, owns the quality bar. The AI is the crew — writes code, runs tests, manages files.Harness engineeringThe layer C² operates at — the gather → act → verify loop. The three layers nest: prompt ⊂ context ⊂ harness, each containing the one before. C² is a harness methodology.The layer triageA diagnostic for what broke, not a stack of what you build: cannot operate → the environment · unreliable → the loop and its stop rule · the process is complex → the topology. Deliberately not the same three as prompt/context/harness.
The Cascade
From the C² Method concepts.
The CascadeThe six-tier chain every piece of work flows through: Platform PRD → Feature PRD → Prompt Brief → Task → Session Brief → Release Note. It doesn't terminate — it closes back onto the PRD.Prompt BriefThe atomic build unit — where the pilot hands off to the crew. Interactive (pilot present) or Autonomous (pilot absent). One brief ≈ one pull request.Quality gateThe six-item check — goal, scope exclusions, testable AC, non-goals, testing approach, definition of done — every brief passes before execution.Bank switchHow a PRD compounds without hoarding: each version absorbs the last (v1.0 → v1.1 → v2.0), leaving one live artefact that says where the work is now.
Topology
From the C² Method concepts.
NodeOne agent doing one bounded job. In C² a node is a Prompt Brief, and the brief is its contract.EdgeWhat crosses between two nodes — one agent's output becoming another's input. "And then" is not an edge. Name it by the artefact, not the order.SurfaceEverything an agent mutates or contends for — files, data, external resources, a deploy target. Two agents on one surface is the anti-pattern.The concurrency ruleAgents may run concurrently exactly when no edge connects them and no surface is shared. The test is the surface, not the headcount.False independenceTwo agents whose briefs never mention each other, colliding over a shared database, a rate-limited API, or one deploy target. A hidden edge.Fan-out / barrierIndependent nodes running at once is a fan-out. Where their results merge — the integration brief, the PR — is a barrier. A barrier makes everything wait for the slowest, so earn it.IsolationStopping one node's mess reaching the others — a git worktree per agent. It isolates the filesystem and nothing else.The shapeThe fifth part of a filed flight plan: which briefs are independent, which are joined by an edge, where the barrier sits, which edges get verified.
Evidence
From the C² Method concepts.
AnchorThe one signal that decides done, which no agent in the run can produce by asserting it. A test that ran. A query that returned rows. A deploy that resolved.Loop on evidence"The agent says it's done" is not a stop condition. Neither is "the review passed" when the review read the builder's own account of the work.Frozen ruleA rule marked non-negotiable precisely because it's the one an optimiser would bend to win. Every frozen rule exists because it got bent once.Verified edgeA result that gets an independent pass before it counts. Independence is mechanical: a different model, inputs the author can't control, and teeth.
Ceremonies
From the C² Method concepts.
Flight PlanningThe gate between "I have a PRD" and "I'm running build sessions against it". Five parts: the line, the briefs, the journey, the shape, and an optional red line.Closing the Flight PlanThe landing gate. A filed plan is closed on arrival — the landing, the deviation, the anchor, the learning. Filing spends context; closing makes it.The three gatesFlight plan (per PRD, judgement) · pull request (per PR, correctness) · closing (per PRD, judgement). The outer two bookend the build under one owner.The sweepClearing the previous cycle's findings at the bank switch — done by the next flight plan, not by the closing.
The contextbase & knowledge
From the C² Method concepts.
The Router (router.md)The file your agent reads first — the living index of the contextbase. Named for your agent. Links rather than embeds.Knowledge indexThe index of 03-knowledge the Router points to. The AI reads the index, not every file.Learn loopCapture discoveries fast during a session, then periodically consolidate them into 03-knowledge and the Router.CompactionKeeping the working context lean. C² does it three ways: the Session Brief, the Router, and the Learn loop.
Agents
From the C² Method concepts.
Lead agentExecutes — reads context, writes code, manages git, writes briefs. One leads per codebase surface.Bench agentReviews, never executes. Independent second opinion on PRDs, security, architecture. Budget-capped.Specialist agentA scoped subagent for repeatable tasks — QA review, release notes, security review.
Governance
From the C² Method concepts.
WIP capMax five in-progress PRDs. Anything above goes to backlog — forces completion before starting.Brief-before-activeA PRD can't go in-progress without at least one Prompt Brief. If you can't write a brief, it's a thinking document.Monthly PRD reviewA 30-minute monthly pass: walk every in-progress PRD; force-move stale ones to backlog.