Adaptive Decision & Analysis Protocol for Thinking
ADAPT is a lifecycle-based decision framework that guides you from problem framing through execution — powered by AI, controlled by you. Every decision gets the right depth of analysis, no more, no less.
The Problem
Most decision models help you think about a problem but stop before telling you how to act on it.
Military and operational processes move fast but don’t translate outside their institutional context.
Practitioners stitch together pieces of multiple models — or default to intuition and hope.
One lifecycle. Triage to execution. Structured analysis with behavioral safeguards. Domain-portable. AI-native.
How It Works
ADAPT routes every decision through the right level of analysis. The initial triage determines the track. Guided stages keep you in control at every step.
Ground Zero
How complex is this decision?
Answer three questions — consequences, reversibility, and time sensitivity — to determine the right depth of analysis.
Phase 1–2
Frame & Understand
Define the decision boundaries, reframe the problem from multiple angles, check assumptions, and generate alternative options with discriminating evidence.
Phase 3–4
Evaluate & Map
Score options across time horizons, run premortems with exit triggers, map stakeholder power dynamics, and set monitoring indicators with review cadences.
Phase 5
Execute & Verify
Build implementation pathways, craft audience-specific communications, and pass the Honesty Check — the final verification against performative or rushed analysis.
Three Analysis Tracks
Not every decision needs the same depth. The initial triage routes your decision to the appropriate track automatically.
Low consequences and fully reversible decisions
Direct recommendation
Meaningful but manageable decisions
3 guided stages, 11 analytical steps
Irreversible or defining decisions
4 thorough stages, all 15 steps
AI executes the analysis. You review, challenge, and decide at every stage. The framework never takes the decision away from you.
The initial triage ensures trivial decisions get quick answers while career-defining ones get the full 15-step treatment. Chaotic environments get rapid action, not false precision.
Step 15 forces an honest reckoning: was any part of the analysis softened, avoided, or made performative? If so, go back.
Built For
Strategic decisions with organizational impact
Case analysis, capstone projects, career decisions
Structured planning outside doctrinal constraints
High-stakes decisions with limited information
Repeatable decision process across client engagements
Career, financial, and life decisions where getting it wrong is expensive
Academic Foundation
ADAPT is the subject of a 2026 working paper developed through Executive MBA research. The framework synthesizes six established academic traditions: behavioral decision science, sensemaking and complexity, structured analytic techniques, decision quality, strategy, and military planning.