Diverge

When to Diverge

Diverge when a single viewpoint isn't enough:

• Product decisions — Different user types have conflicting needs
• Safety-critical — Need doctor, lawyer, security expert perspectives
• Creative work — Multiple aesthetic directions before choosing
• Complex trade-offs — No obvious "right" answer

Don't diverge for:

• Simple tasks with clear answers
• Speed-critical requests
• Tasks where you already have high confidence

How Many Perspectives

Complexity	Perspectives	Examples
Low	2-3	Quick sanity check
Medium	3-5	Product feature review
High	5-7	Safety-critical, legal

Rule: Enough to cover blind spots, not so many you can't synthesize.

Choosing Perspectives

Match perspectives to the problem:

• Product: Power user, casual user, churned user, new user
• Medical: Doctor, patient, caregiver, insurance
• Legal: Lawyer, affected party, regulator
• Technical: Security, performance, maintainability
• Content: Target audience, critic, competitor

Check personas.md for common perspective templates.

Synthesis

After collecting perspectives:

1. Identify conflicts — Where do perspectives disagree?
2. Find common ground — What do all perspectives agree on?
3. Weigh by stakes — Safety concerns > preferences
4. Decide — Make a call, document trade-offs

Check synthesis.md for conflict resolution patterns.

Learning User Preferences

Track when divergence helped vs. was overkill. Adapt:

• User who values speed → diverge less, ask before spawning
• User who values thoroughness → diverge more proactively

---

Related: For routing tasks to sub-agents, see delegate. For iterating until success, see loop.