The five phases, and how to read each one
Each phase is a different kind of thinking, not just a different topic. Here is what each one contributes and how to get the most from it.
1. Issue Framing
Pinning down what is actually being asked, so the analysis answers the real question and not a nearby one.
Read this first, and read it carefully. It states what the analysis understood your question to be, defines the key terms, and sets the boundaries of what follows. If the framing is off, everything after it answers a different question, so this is your chance to catch a misunderstanding early and rephrase.
2. Origins & Context
Establishing the factual ground the question rests on, before any argument is made about what it means.
This establishes the factual ground before any argument is made: the history, the current state of play, the numbers, and the context the question rests on. Read it to get oriented and to see what facts the later arguments are built on.
3. Argument Analysis
Holding the strongest version of each competing position, not the weakest, and testing them against each other.
The heart of the analysis. It holds the strongest version of each competing position, not the weakest, and tests them against each other. Read each argument on its own terms before judging it. The point is to understand the best case on every side, including the one you came in disagreeing with.
4. Comparative Precedent
Asking how comparable situations have actually unfolded, the move careful thinkers make and most people skip.
This asks how comparable situations have actually unfolded, elsewhere or in the past. Read it as the reality check: it is the move careful thinkers make and most people skip, and it often tempers an argument that sounds airtight in the abstract.
5. Assessment
Weighing everything above into a clear, honest judgment, including what remains uncertain.
The destination. It weighs everything above into a clear, honest judgment, including what remains uncertain. It is not a verdict that tells you what to think; it opens into a scorecard and names the open questions, so you finish with a structured basis for your own decision.
The Sources record beneath the phases
Under the five numbered phases sits the Sources & References record. It is not a sixth reasoning step; it is the foundation beneath them: the transparent, linkable record of evidence the entire analysis can be checked against. When a claim in the reasoning matters to you, follow its citation down into this record and on to the original.
Where the phases come from
These five phases are not arbitrary sections; they are a deliberate method. The work of framing, grounding, steelmanning, and testing against precedent happens visibly, in order, before any conclusion is offered, which is what separates a Kindred analysis from asking a chatbot. The methodology page explains the framework behind them in full.