synapseradio/decompose

Follow these steps:

1. State the whole

State what is being examined.

2. Identify part-whole relations

For things: components, members, portions, materials, phases, qualities, places. For tasks and problems: subgoals, cases, constraints, epistemic status (know / assume / verify / ask). Select only the relations that fit.

3. Find the natural joints

Find where boundaries already exist. A cut sits at a joint when the interface stays small, the parts change for independent reasons, and properties change abruptly at the line.

4. Verify coverage and connections

Do the parts account for the whole — no gaps, no overlaps? How do parts relate to each other?

5. Recurse

Recurse into parts that are still too complex, naming the relation type at each level — part-of does not compose across types. Set up todos and call the decompose skill on those parts as well.

6. Stop at simple

Stop when a part can be acted on or verified directly, or when further cutting grows the interfaces more than it shrinks the parts.

The object relations follow Winston, Chaffin & Herrmann (1987), "A Taxonomy of Part-Whole Relations," Cognitive Science 11(4), 417-444.