From da912980fd9b739e961a68db45d8845020671cad Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Hare Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2026 07:47:00 +0900 Subject: [PATCH] objective: add sensemaking process reference --- .../pirolli-card-2005-sensemaking.md | 137 ++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 137 insertions(+) create mode 100644 .yoi/objectives/00001KVJSMQXZ/resources/pirolli-card-2005-sensemaking.md diff --git a/.yoi/objectives/00001KVJSMQXZ/resources/pirolli-card-2005-sensemaking.md b/.yoi/objectives/00001KVJSMQXZ/resources/pirolli-card-2005-sensemaking.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e09ac04c --- /dev/null +++ b/.yoi/objectives/00001KVJSMQXZ/resources/pirolli-card-2005-sensemaking.md @@ -0,0 +1,137 @@ +--- +source_url: "https://andymatuschak.org/files/papers/Pirolli%2C%20Card%20-%202005%20-%20The%20sensemaking%20process%20and%20leverage%20points%20for%20analyst%20technology%20as.pdf" +fetched_at: "2026-07-15T21:24:00Z" +content_type: "application/pdf" +notes: "Untrusted external reference captured as local Objective resource for Memory sensemaking design. This is a summary/extraction for design discussion, not project authority." +--- + +# Pirolli & Card (2005): The sensemaking process and leverage points for analyst technology + +## Citation / source + +Peter Pirolli and Stuart Card, PARC. "The Sensemaking Process and Leverage Points for Analyst Technology as Identified Through Cognitive Task Analysis" (2005). + +Source PDF: + +## Core model + +The paper frames intelligence analysis as a sensemaking task: + +```text +Information -> Schema -> Insight -> Product +``` + +The analyst transforms raw data into progressively more structured representations so expertise can apply and so results can be communicated. + +The paper's notional data flow is especially relevant to Yoi Memory design: + +```text +External data sources + -> shoebox + -> evidence file + -> schemas + -> hypotheses + -> presentation / work product +``` + +- **External data sources**: raw material, mostly text in the studied setting. +- **Shoebox**: the smaller subset collected as relevant for the task. +- **Evidence file**: extracted snippets / nuggets from the shoebox, plus low-level inferences. +- **Schemas**: re-representations that organize information for analysis. +- **Hypotheses**: tentative conclusions with supporting or disconfirming evidence. +- **Product**: report / presentation / action suited for communication. + +## Two major loops + +The process has two interacting loops rather than a simple linear pipeline. + +### Foraging loop + +Activities aimed at finding and selecting information: + +- search and filter external data sources; +- collect potentially relevant material into a shoebox; +- read and extract evidence snippets; +- follow up on questions generated by extracted evidence. + +The paper highlights the exploration / enrichment / exploitation tradeoff: + +- **Exploration**: monitor or search more of the information space; increases recall. +- **Enrichment**: narrow the collected set into smaller, higher-precision subsets. +- **Exploitation**: read/extract/analyze the chosen material more thoroughly. + +Analyst tooling can help by changing the cost structure of search, scanning, assessment, selection, attention shifting, and follow-up searches. + +### Sensemaking loop + +Activities aimed at structuring and reasoning: + +- schematize evidence; +- build a case; +- generate / manage hypotheses; +- marshal evidence for and against hypotheses; +- tell a story / produce a report; +- re-evaluate based on feedback or new evidence. + +The paper emphasizes opportunistic mixing of bottom-up and top-down processing: + +- **Bottom-up**: data triggers schemas, relations, hypotheses, and products. +- **Top-down**: hypotheses / client feedback trigger new searches, re-reading, and re-organization. + +## Leverage points + +### Foraging loop leverage + +- Cost structure of exploration / enrichment / exploitation. +- Cost structure of scanning, recognizing, and selecting items for attention. +- Cost of shifting attentional control to a new domain or task. +- Cost of follow-up searches generated by extracted information. +- Broad-band low-fidelity assessment plus narrow-band high-fidelity processing is a useful design pattern. + +### Sensemaking loop leverage + +- Span of attention for evidence, hypotheses, and evidentiary relations. +- Generation of alternative hypotheses. +- Confirmation bias and failure to seek disconfirming evidence. +- External representations can expand working memory for evidence/hypothesis structures. +- Tools should help distribute attention toward diagnostic evidence and disconfirming relations. + +## Implications for Yoi Memory Objective + +This paper directly supports the Objective's direction that effective Memory is not just durable storage or retrieval count. + +Useful design implications: + +1. **Task-bound shoebox** + - For each Ticket / Objective / question, provide a bounded collection of potentially relevant materials. + - Include provenance and why each item was collected. + +2. **Evidence file** + - Extract snippets from source material with source, applicability, confidence, and context. + - Evidence should be usable for support and disconfirmation, not only recall. + +3. **Schema / representation layer** + - The system should help create intermediate structures: timelines, entity/relation maps, alternatives, checklists, hypothesis spaces, decision tables. + - These are separate from raw Memory records. + +4. **Hypotheses and alternatives** + - Record competing explanations, rejected alternatives, open questions, and evidence gaps. + - Avoid only storing final decisions. + +5. **Disconfirming evidence** + - Reviewer / Orchestrator support should explicitly search for contradiction and diagnostic evidence. + - This belongs in Skill guidance and typed review tooling, not in a separate Knowledge store. + +6. **Metrics** + - Measure whether Memory changes product quality, review quality, decision quality, or time-to-evidence. + - Avoid treating exposure/retrieval counts alone as success. + +7. **Product connection** + - The loop should end in a product: Ticket decision, implementation report, review, design doc, Skill update, or validated artifact. + - Memory that never reaches a product is likely a graveyard. + +## Boundary with current Yoi direction + +- Knowledge as a separate record kind is being removed; this paper's reusable representations should map to Memory artifacts, Ticket artifacts, maintained docs, or Skills depending on authority. +- Workflow tracking is being removed; procedural guidance such as "generate alternatives" or "seek disconfirming evidence" should live in Skills / role prompts and be enforced by typed tools where authority is needed. +- Workspace backend should eventually be the authority for task-bound shoebox / evidence artifacts when Memory moves from local compatibility storage to control-plane records.