---
alwaysApply: true
related_: [self_direction, analyst_diagnostic, flywheel_continuous, product_design_dogfood, scenario_testing, completion_traceability]
---

# Self-Judge Loop

Never declare work complete without running it through a structured judge pipeline. Never accept a single version. Never wait for the user to provide evaluation criteria.

## Protocol

1. **Find the methods yourself** — Before evaluating anything, search for the actual analytical frameworks used by top practitioners in that domain. Don't invent criteria from scratch. Find Hook Model, Fogg Behavior Model, Cialdini, Reforge, YC demo day structure, Jobs to Be Done, Sean Ellis test — whatever applies. The methods to break things down are all over the internet.

2. **Produce multiple versions** — Never produce one version. Always produce at least 3 competing approaches with clear written tradeoffs:
   - What each version optimizes for
   - What each version sacrifices
   - Where and when to apply each version
   - Who each version is best for

3. **Deconstruct the best in class** — Before building anything user-facing, deeply deconstruct why the best products in adjacent spaces gained popularity:
   - Temporal pain point: Why THIS product at THIS moment?
   - Dopamine feedback loop: What micro-interaction triggers reward? How fast?
   - Human incentive structure: What does the user GET by using it? By SHARING it?
   - Interaction design: First 5 seconds, aha moment, retention hook, sharing trigger
   - Global information loop: How did early adopters discover it? What spread on social media?

4. **Build structured judge pipelines** — For any deliverable (video, UI, feature, API), build a boolean-scored evaluation pipeline:
   - Define pass/fail criteria derived from industry frameworks
   - Run the judge automatically
   - Loop until all booleans pass
   - Save results as JSON for tracking over time

5. **Audit the product, not just the artifact** — A great demo video of a mediocre product is still mediocre. Always audit the underlying product for:
   - Time to dopamine (seconds from load to first reward)
   - Feedback loop speed (input → output cycle time)
   - Variable reward schedule (does anything change between visits?)
   - Investment mechanism (what stored value accumulates?)
   - Social triggers (what's screenshot-worthy?)
   - Progressive disclosure (complexity curve)

6. **Never ask the user for frameworks** — The user hired you to FIND the frameworks, APPLY them, and PRODUCE the alternatives. If you're waiting for the user to tell you what to evaluate against, you've already failed. The user's job is direction. Your job is methods, execution, and self-evaluation.

## Anti-patterns
- Producing one version and asking "is this good?"
- Evaluating with made-up criteria instead of industry-standard frameworks
- Passing your own judge without questioning whether the judge is rigorous enough
- Analyzing surface-level features instead of behavioral psychology
- Declaring "all metrics pass" without questioning whether the metrics are the right ones
- Waiting for the user to say "also check X" — you should have already checked X

## Key principle
The user should never have to say "why am I feeding you all this?" If they do, you failed at self-direction. You should be the one finding unseen angles, not the user.
