Adaptic

Compose 5-step synoptic cycle. Achieve panoramic synthesis across multiple domains. Where sequential analysis produces compromise ("a little of each"), synoptic cycle produces integration — unified understanding holds all domains together and finds emergent whole.

When Use

• Problem genuinely spans 3+ domains and interactions between domains matter more than depth in any one
• Sequential analysis (polymath style) tried but synthesis feels like compromise rather than integration
• Existing approaches feel like "a little of each" rather than unified vision
• Before major architectural decisions affecting multiple stakeholders
• Domain experts disagree and resolution lies between their perspectives, not within any one

When NOT to Use

• Single-domain problems — use domain agent directly
• Well-understood trade-offs where polymath-style sequential analysis suffices
• Self-care or wellness contexts — use tending team instead
• Speed matters more than depth — full cycle requires sustained attention

Inputs

• Required: Problem or question requiring multi-domain synthesis
• Optional: Explicit list of domains to hold (default: auto-detect from problem context)
• Optional: Depth setting — light, standard, or deep (default: standard)
• Optional: Expression form — narrative, diagram, table, or recommendation (default: auto)

Configuration

settings:
  depth: standard          # light (skip meditate), standard, deep (extended perceive)
  domains: auto            # auto-detect or explicit list
  expression_form: auto    # narrative, diagram, table, recommendation

Steps

Step 1: Clear — Empty Workspace

Run meditate skill. Clear prior context, assumptions, single-domain bias.

1. Execute full meditate procedure: prepare, anchor, observe distractions, close
2. Pay special attention to domain bias — tendency to frame problem through whichever domain was most recently active
3. Clear any premature solutions arrived before full picture visible
4. If depth: light set, abbreviate to brief context-clearing pause rather than full meditation

Got: Workspace empty. No domain has priority. No solution pre-selected. Agent in neutral, receptive state ready to hold multiple perspectives together.

If fail: Particular domain keeps asserting itself as "real problem"? Name bias explicit: "I notice I am framing this as primarily a [domain] problem." Naming bias loosens its grip. Clearing fails entirely? Problem may genuinely be single-domain — reconsider whether synoptic cycle needed.

Step 2: Open — Enter Panoramic Mode

Run expand-awareness skill. Shift from narrow focus to wide-field perception.

1. Inventory all domains relevant to problem — do not pre-filter or rank
2. For each domain, note its core concerns, constraints, values without evaluating
3. Soften focus: hold all domains in awareness together rather than cycling through one at time
4. Resist pull to "start solving" — this step purely about opening field of view
5. Domains provided explicitly in inputs? Use those as starting set but remain open to discovering additional relevant domains

Got: Panoramic field open. All relevant domains held in awareness together. Agent senses full landscape without zooming into any single domain. Feeling spacious rather than overwhelming.

If fail: Domain list feels incomplete? Ask: "What perspective is missing that would change picture?" Simultaneous awareness collapses into sequential scanning (domain A, then B, then C)? Slow down — goal is hold whole field, not tour its parts. More than 7 domains active? Group related domains into clusters to reduce cognitive load while keep breadth.

Step 3: Perceive — Notice Cross-Domain Patterns

While maintain panoramic awareness, run observe and awareness to notice patterns, tensions, resonances across all visible domains.

1. Hold panoramic field open from Step 2 — do not narrow focus
2. Run observe to notice what actually present: what patterns repeat across domains? what tensions exist between domains? what resonances connect seemingly unrelated concerns?
3. Run awareness to notice what not being seen: which domains being subtly ignored? where blind spots? what assumptions operating below surface?
4. Record cross-domain observations without interpreting yet:
   • Tensions: where domains pull in opposite directions
   • Resonances: where domains reinforce or echo each other
   • Gaps: where no domain addresses concern that whole picture reveals
   • Surprises: where domain contributes something unexpected to picture
5. If depth: deep set, extend this step — cycle through observe and awareness multiple times, allow subtler patterns to surface

Critical discipline: perceive across all domains together, not each domain in turn. Sequential perception loses cross-domain patterns that are entire point of synoptic cycle.

Got: Rich set of cross-domain observations — tensions, resonances, gaps, surprises. These observations span boundaries between domains rather than living within any single one. Agent noticed something that would not be visible from any single domain's perspective.

If fail: Observations all within single domains ("in domain A, I notice X")? Panoramic field collapsed. Return to Step 2 and re-open. No cross-domain patterns emerge? Problem may not require synoptic treatment — may be genuinely decomposable into independent domain problems. Perceive step produces overwhelming number of observations? Prioritize tensions (where integration happens).

Step 4: Integrate — Form Emergent Whole

Run integrate-gestalt skill. Synthesize cross-domain observations into unified understanding.

1. Map tensions identified in Step 3 — do not resolve prematurely; hold as creative constraints
2. Find figure: what unified understanding emerges when all observations held together? Not compromise or average — new pattern includes but transcends individual domain perspectives
3. Test whole: does integrated understanding honor each domain's core concerns? Does it resolve tensions or merely paper over them?
4. Name insight in one clear statement — if cannot be stated simply, integration not yet complete
5. Verify insight genuinely emergent: could have been reached by analyzing domains sequentially? If yes, synoptic cycle added no value and sequential analysis would have sufficed

Got: Single integrated understanding holds all domains together. Insight feels like discovery rather than construction — emerged from whole rather than assembled from parts. Each domain's core concerns honored. Tensions between domains resolved rather than compromised.

If fail: Integration produces "a little of each domain" rather than unified whole? Gestalt has not formed. Return to Step 3 and look for tensions being avoided — integration happens through tension, not around it. No gestalt forms after extended effort? Decompose: find 2-3 domains with strongest tensions, integrate those first, then expand.

Step 5: Express — Communicate Integrated Understanding

Run express-insight skill. Communicate synthesis to intended audience.

1. Assess audience: what domains familiar with? what framing makes integrated insight accessible?
2. Choose expression form (or use one specified in inputs):
   • Narrative: for audiences need to understand journey from parts to whole
   • Diagram: for audiences need to see structural relationships
   • Table: for audiences need to compare domain perspectives systematically
   • Recommendation: for audiences need actionable decision
3. Express integrated understanding with transparency: show which domains contributed, where tensions resolved, what emergent insight adds beyond any single perspective
4. Invite challenge: explicit note which aspects of integration strongest and which most speculative

Got: Clear, well-formed expression of integrated understanding accessible to intended audience. Expression shows its work — audience sees how domain perspectives contributed to whole. Form matches audience's needs.

If fail: Expression feels like list of domain perspectives rather than integrated whole? Insight from Step 4 lost in translation. Return to one-statement summary from Step 4 and build expression outward from that center. Audience framing wrong? Ask: "Who needs this and what decision does it inform?"

Checks

• Step 1 (Clear) executed — prior context and domain bias explicitly released
• Step 2 (Open) produced panoramic field holding 3+ domains together
• Step 3 (Perceive) identified cross-domain patterns (not just within-domain observations)
• Step 4 (Integrate) produced single emergent insight transcends any individual domain
• Step 5 (Express) communicated insight in form appropriate to audience
• Final output could not have been produced by sequential single-domain analysis
• Each domain's core concerns honored in integrated understanding
• Tensions between domains resolved through integration, not compromise

Pitfalls

• Sequential masquerading as simultaneous: Cycling through domains one at time then stapling results together not synoptic perception. Test: did cross-domain interactions produce something new, or output just concatenation of domain analyses?
• Premature integration: Jumping to synthesis before panoramic field fully opened. Steps 2 and 3 build perceptual foundation that makes genuine integration possible — rushing them produces shallow synthesis.
• Compromise instead of emergence: Averaging domain perspectives ("50% security, 50% usability") is compromise, not integration. True integration finds frame where both concerns fully met, or honestly names irreducible trade-off.
• Overuse on single-domain problems: Not every problem needs panoramic synthesis. Problem lives cleanly in one domain? Synoptic treatment adds overhead without value. "When NOT to Use" criteria exist for reason.
• Losing insight in expression: Step 4 produces clear gestalt but Step 5 fragments back into domain-by-domain list. Keep integrated insight as center of expression; domain details are supporting evidence, not main structure.
• Domain inflation: Artificially expanding domain count to justify synoptic treatment. Three genuinely relevant domains produce better synthesis than seven domains where four are peripheral.

See Also

• meditate — Step 1 of cycle; clears context and establishes neutral starting state
• expand-awareness — Step 2 of cycle; shifts from narrow focus to panoramic perception
• observe — used in Step 3; notices what present across field
• awareness — used in Step 3; notices what not being seen, reveals blind spots
• integrate-gestalt — Step 4 of cycle; forms emergent whole from cross-domain patterns
• express-insight — Step 5 of cycle; communicates integrated understanding