Your Problem Stake Brief is a starting point — a first draft of a design claim. This Dojo session pressure-tests that draft. The AI will speak as your clinical worker and ask you questions you haven't thought of yet. More importantly, it'll train you to ask those questions of someone else — which is exactly what you'll do in class.
— Prof. Sathya
You wrote a Problem Stake Brief. Now defend it.
Context
In class this week, you'll sit across from a classmate and present your stake. They'll write down questions for you. Then Prof. Sathya and Piranavan will look at those questions and tell you whether they're the right ones to ask. After that, you'll interview each other using those sharpened questions.
This Dojo session prepares you for both sides of that conversation — defending your own stake and questioning someone else's.
What You'll Do
Open the Symbiotic Thinking Dojo. Select the Sprint 3: Problem Stake Defense practice session. The session has two parts:
Part 1 — Sharpen Your Stake (~20 min)
Present your Problem Stake Brief
@advocate speaks as your clinical worker — demands specifics about their reality
@framer blocks you from jumping to solutions before the problem is clear
@auditor helps you separate what you know from what you're guessing
You'll leave with a clear list of assumptions and questions for the expert
Part 2 — Practice Interrogating (~10 min)
Read a sample problem stake from a fictional student
Write 2-3 questions you'd ask them
@advocate and @framer critique your questions — not the stake
You'll learn to spot where specificity hides assumption
What Good Looks Like
What a strong Dojo session looks like vs. a weak one
This shows the quality of interaction — not what to copy.
Strong example:
Student: "My user is a ward nurse at a district hospital in Mongar. She handles patient transfers from isolation. During handoff, she has about 4 minutes and needs to know whether to continue contact precautions or de-escalate."
The Advocate: "You say I have 4 minutes. What am I doing during those 4 minutes — just waiting? Or am I checking vitals, updating charts, prepping the bed? Because if I'm doing three things at once, I don't have 4 minutes for your solution. I have 30 seconds."
Student: "That's fair — I'm guessing about the 4 minutes. I actually don't know how handoff works in a district hospital. That's an assumption I need to check with Piranavan."
The Auditor: "Good. You caught it. What else in your stake depends on assumptions about her workflow that you haven't verified?"
Why this works: The student gets pushed, acknowledges a gap honestly, and names it as a question for the expert. The session produces self-awareness about assumptions — not just a polished-sounding brief.
Weak example:
Student: "My user is a nurse. The guideline is hard to use."
Sensei: "Which nurse? Where? When in their day does this hit?"
Student: "Just nurses in general in Bhutan."
[Session goes in circles because there's nothing specific to pressure-test]
Why this fails: No specific user, no moment, no sequence. The Dojo can't pressure-test what doesn't exist. If your stake is still at this level, the Dojo will help you build it — but you'll get more out of the session if you draft your Problem Stake Brief first.
Copy-paste this to start your Dojo session:
I'm working on my Sprint 3 Problem Stake for the Bhutan MDRO guideline challenge. I need to sharpen my stake — pressure-test my user, my moment, and my pain point — and then practice interrogating someone else's stake before class.
Open the Symbiotic Thinking Dojo. Select Practice Dojo and scroll to select “Sprint 3: Problem Stake Defense” in the options. Use the CTI key you received by email to use Sonnet 4.6.