Problem structures

Controlled vocabulary for reusable workflow problem forms used by canonical pattern entries.

Source fields

• problem_structure

Usage notes

• Use the stable id in canonical pattern YAML and reserve the label for display text.
• Choose the term that best matches the primary workflow shape, not every secondary behavior.
• Prefer the most reusable structure across domains rather than domain-specific phrasing.

Terms

Context gathering and synthesis

• Stable id: context-gathering-and-synthesis
• Summary: Retrieve information from multiple inputs and compress it into a grounded brief or artifact.
• Definition: Use for workflows whose main challenge is collecting scattered evidence, assembling relevant context, and producing a concise synthesis that informs later work.
• Selection guidance: Choose this when information coverage and evidence integration are primary. Prefer investigation or planning structures when the core task is resolving discrepancies or sequencing action.
• Related ids: evidence-backed-verification, recommendation-and-decision-support
• Used by patterns:
• Approval-gated briefing release
• Approval packet generation
• Change-triggered context briefing
• Crisis briefing evidence synthesis
• Research synthesis with citation verification

Structured representation transformation

• Stable id: structured-representation-transformation
• Summary: Convert heterogeneous inputs into normalized, schema-aligned outputs that preserve operational meaning for downstream use.
• Definition: Use for workflows that transform documents, records, or mixed content into structured data through extraction, normalization, enrichment, or schema-preserving reshaping while keeping lossiness and uncertainty explicit.
• Selection guidance: Choose this when the main deliverable is a downstream-usable representation or handoff package. Prefer context gathering and synthesis when the workflow ends in a brief, evidence-backed verification when correctness adjudication dominates, and approval-gated execution when the value comes from acting on the transformed result.
• Related ids: context-gathering-and-synthesis, evidence-backed-verification
• Used by patterns:
• Approval-gated transformation release
• Batch content transformation
• Change-triggered representation refresh
• Critical channel-safe state packaging
• Document to structured data handoff
• Normalization and enrichment

Discrepancy investigation

• Stable id: discrepancy-investigation
• Summary: Identify why observed facts, records, or outcomes do not align.
• Definition: Use for workflows that trace causes, inspect conflicting signals, and build an explanation for a mismatch, anomaly, or unexpected outcome.
• Selection guidance: Choose this when the workflow centers on finding causes and narrowing hypotheses. Prefer record reconciliation when the goal is restoring consistency across systems of record.
• Related ids: record-reconciliation, evidence-backed-verification
• Used by patterns:
• Incident root cause analysis

Record reconciliation

• Stable id: record-reconciliation
• Summary: Compare representations of the same entity or event and restore a trusted state.
• Definition: Use for workflows that match records, detect inconsistencies, and determine the authoritative resolution across ledgers, tickets, inventories, or other structured systems.
• Selection guidance: Choose this when alignment across records is the primary outcome. Prefer discrepancy investigation when explanation matters more than state correction.
• Related ids: discrepancy-investigation, evidence-backed-verification
• Used by patterns:
• Authoritative record reconciliation
• Critical authoritative state restoration

Evidence-backed verification

• Stable id: evidence-backed-verification
• Summary: Confirm whether a claim, condition, or output is correct against trusted evidence.
• Definition: Use for workflows that validate facts, outputs, compliance conditions, or execution results using independent checks or corroborating evidence.
• Selection guidance: Choose this when the core task is proving correctness or confidence. Prefer context gathering and synthesis when the workflow mainly summarizes rather than verifies.
• Related ids: context-gathering-and-synthesis, record-reconciliation
• Used by patterns:
• Claimed state verification
• Evidence-gated verification for release

Continuous monitoring and triage

• Stable id: continuous-monitoring-and-triage
• Summary: Watch streams of events or signals and prioritize which ones need attention.
• Definition: Use for workflows that monitor changing conditions, detect notable events, and classify or route alerts, incidents, or requests by urgency and likely next step.
• Selection guidance: Choose this when the workflow is ongoing and event-driven. Prefer discrepancy investigation for episodic deep dives into a specific mismatch.
• Related ids: discrepancy-investigation, exception-aware-orchestration
• Used by patterns:
• Anomaly detection review
• Approval-gated triage dispatch
• Critical signal corroboration triage
• Explainable watchlist maintenance
• Risk alert triage

Constraint-aware planning

• Stable id: constraint-aware-planning
• Summary: Produce a workable plan that respects limits, dependencies, and objectives.
• Definition: Use for workflows that create task sequences, schedules, or resource allocations while balancing constraints such as deadlines, policies, availability, and priorities.
• Selection guidance: Choose this when generating a viable plan is the main deliverable. Prefer multi-party-coordination when stakeholder alignment is the harder problem than plan construction.
• Related ids: multi-party-coordination, recommendation-and-decision-support
• Used by patterns:
• Contingency plan activation gate
• Critical command-window resequencing
• Schedule adjustment and replanning

Multi-party coordination

• Stable id: multi-party-coordination
• Summary: Align actors, handoffs, and commitments across people, teams, or systems.
• Definition: Use for workflows that keep multiple participants synchronized, negotiate sequencing, and update plans or ownership as conditions change.
• Selection guidance: Choose this when coordination overhead and dependency management dominate. Prefer constraint-aware planning when a single feasible plan is the primary output.
• Related ids: constraint-aware-planning, human-agent-collaboration
• Used by patterns:
• Authoritative change coordination refresh
• Calendar conflict coordination

Recommendation and decision support

• Stable id: recommendation-and-decision-support
• Summary: Rank options and present a justified next-best action or escalation path.
• Definition: Use for workflows that evaluate alternatives, weigh evidence against policy or goals, and recommend a decision while keeping the rationale inspectable.
• Selection guidance: Choose this when advising a human or downstream system is the main purpose. Prefer approval-gated-execution when the workflow proceeds into acting on the selected option.
• Related ids: constraint-aware-planning, approval-gated-execution
• Used by patterns:
• Approval-gated recommendation release
• Control requirement attestation recommendation
• Critical escalation authority recommendation
• Deal desk recommendation support
• Delegated authority option ranking
• Policy-constrained escalation routing
• Readiness gate disposition recommendation

Approval-gated execution

• Stable id: approval-gated-execution
• Summary: Prepare and carry out actions once required approvals and checks are satisfied.
• Definition: Use for workflows that transform a selected plan or decision into operational steps under explicit approval boundaries and control gates.
• Selection guidance: Choose this when action execution matters and a formal approval checkpoint remains central. Prefer recommendation and decision support when the workflow stops at advice.
• Related ids: recommendation-and-decision-support, exception-aware-orchestration
• Used by patterns:
• Browser-based form completion with approval gates
• Workflow hand-off and completion

Exception-aware orchestration

• Stable id: exception-aware-orchestration
• Summary: Drive multi-step work forward while detecting failures, retries, and escalation cases.
• Definition: Use for workflows that execute or coordinate a process across systems and adapt when the normal path fails, stalls, or encounters policy exceptions.
• Selection guidance: Choose this when the hard part is keeping execution moving through edge cases. Prefer approval-gated execution when the main control point is a human authorization gate.
• Related ids: approval-gated-execution, continuous-monitoring-and-triage
• Used by patterns:
• Exception-aware task execution
• Human-directed task orchestration
• Staged change execution with rollback holds

Feedback-driven optimization

• Stable id: feedback-driven-optimization
• Summary: Improve plans, thresholds, or actions based on observed results.
• Definition: Use for workflows that compare outcomes against targets, learn from feedback, and adjust future behavior or configurations within stated constraints.
• Selection guidance: Choose this when iterative improvement is the primary loop. Prefer continuous monitoring and triage when the workflow focuses on ongoing detection rather than adaptation.
• Related ids: continuous-monitoring-and-triage, constraint-aware-planning
• Used by patterns:
• Adaptive review sampling-rate tuning
• Adaptive threshold calibration
• Approval-gated optimization-state release
• Critical protected-priority adaptation
• Governed optimization bundle retuning
• Queue prioritization optimization

Human-agent collaboration

• Stable id: human-agent-collaboration
• Summary: Structure shared work so humans and agents each handle the parts they are best suited for.
• Definition: Use for workflows that depend on back-and-forth refinement, explicit handoffs, and joint ownership between a person and an agentic system.
• Selection guidance: Choose this when collaboration is intrinsic to the workflow rather than just an approval step. Prefer recommendation-only autonomy choices for patterns where the agent never acts beyond advice.
• Related ids: multi-party-coordination, recommendation-and-decision-support
• Used by patterns:
• Analyst copilot loop
• Approval-centered collaboration
• Approval-gated collaborative artifact release
• Critical protected artifact collaboration
• Shared workbench orchestration

Canonical source

• data/vocabularies/problem-structures.yaml