inversionlisted

# Inversion ## Overview Most planning asks "how do I win?" and runs forward from there. Inversion runs the other way: "how could this fail catastrophically?" — then designs the plan around eliminating the failure paths that matter most. The work is not pessimism; it is **eliminating known ways to lose so you keep only the risks you can live with**. This is one of four composable motions in the deciqAI collection: [first-principles](../first-principles/SKILL.md) decomposes *downward* to bedrock; [occams-razor](../occams-razor/SKILL.md) chooses *sideways* among competing accounts; [second-order-thinking](../second-order-thinking/SKILL.md) traces *forward* through time; **inversion** traces *backward from failure*. Compose freely — use inversion after a first-principles teardown, alongside a parsimony audit, or in parallel with a forward cascade as a failure cascade. ## When to Use Apply when: decision is high-stakes or hard-to-reverse; enthusiasm is high but no risks named; someone says "pre-mortem," "what could go wrong," "why might this fail." **When NOT to use:** reversible low-stakes calls; immediate crisis requiring action now; lack domain knowledge to enumerate plausible paths. ## Coaching Novices (Adaptive Front Door) Two delivery modes: **Engine mode** — user has a concrete decision → run the full Audit directly. **Coach mode** — user signals unfamiliarity → guide one step at a time. When unsure: *"Want me to run this on a specific decision, or walk you through