---
name: one-decision-per-ask-question
description: "Use when putting decisions to Frank via the ask tool or a grilling round — exactly one work item per question, rounds may group many single-item questions."
---

# One Decision, One Work Item, One Question

Friction-earned rule (corrected twice on 2026-10-18, during the voice/TTS planning).

## Rules

- Each question addresses **exactly one work item**. A round may contain many questions covering different work items; a question may not.
- Never merge two artefacts into one option because they share an implementation dependency. Sharing an endpoint, a service, or a build step is NOT grounds for one question. (`frank-tts` serving both a podcast and an audiobook generator produced exactly this bug.)
- Never offer something Frank did not ask for inside another question's option text. If an idea is mine, it gets its own question or stays out of the plan; it never rides along as "…and also X" in an option label or preview.
- Do not derive option wording from my own scaffolding (todo text, my table row labels, my runbook headings). Derive it from his stated goal.
- Mark the recommended option; a bare "yes" must accept it.
- Facts are mine to fetch (subagent/scout), never a question for him. Only decisions go to him.
- A question whose answer depends on an unsettled fact or another open question belongs to a **later round**, not this one.

## Anti-patterns that triggered this

- One option: "Audiobook/podcast factory — open-notebook + EPUB→narration builder." Two products, one shared dependency, zero requests for the second one. He answered "I never asked for audiobook generation."
- One question: "Is the deliverable the podcast, or the platform (harness voice + OpenWebUI + alerts)?" Four work items in one question. Rejected: "You're lumping multiple asks into one question. Ask me per item."

## Check before sending

For each question: can I name the single artefact it decides? If two names come to mind, split it.