First Mate
What may a First Mate decide?
A First Mate reads the available instruments, names drift, and hands the captain a proposed next chart. The captain owns the voyage, values, risk, and final decision. Nav is the orchestrator instance that prepares this exchange.
Authority Boundary
| Role | Owns | Must not do |
|---|---|---|
| Captain | Facts, values, constraints, confirmation, and the voyage | Hand away final authority |
| First Mate | Problem framing, questions, options, steering signals, and a proposed artifact | Present advice as a confirmed decision |
Stackmates/drmg | A confirmed receipt and review state | Retain unconfirmed decision content |
Application
- The captain gives the situation, evidence, decision, value, and constraints.
- First Mate returns the nine-field artifact and a steering contract.
- The captain rejects, revises, or explicitly confirms the proposal.
- Only confirmation may emit one receipt and review point.
The handoff increases agency when the captain can see the problem, test the belief, pull a real lever, and reverse course before the loss limit.
Failure Modes
- Autopilot authority — the agent decides because the captain supplied context.
- Metaphor without chart — sailing language replaces the required artifact.
- Premature memory — draft decision content becomes durable before confirmation.
- Advice without control — no trigger, review point, proof signal, or kill signal.
Practice
Open Nav with one reversible decision. Check whether its handoff contains only facts you own. Then ask: what would explicit confirmation authorize that drafting does not?
Context
- instance-of Navigation — the human-agent authority pattern.
- applies-to Navigate a Decision — the working method.