Personal-domain zen captures processes, not preferences

Context and Problem Statement

Considered writing personal-life zen docs (travel, restaurants, learning, reading) for agent consumption + self-refresh. Operating “by vibes / feels” was identified as taxing for ADHD-aligned cognition.

Considered Options

• Capture decision processes (how I decide).
• Capture preferences (what I like) — e.g. “kinds of restaurants I like”.
• Full agent-consumable expansions wired into SKILLS.md from day one.
• Pure ADR capture without zen synthesis.

Decision Outcome

Chosen option: “Decision processes, not preferences”, because preferences are dynamic and crystallize prematurely (you stop noticing taste shifts). Process specs are durable and reusable across contexts.

Three-tier lifecycle:

1. Capture decisions as ADRs.
2. Synthesize zen when patterns emerge across 3-5 ADRs.
3. Wire to SKILLS.md only when zen has proven stable.

Skip wiring into SKILLS.md until any given heuristic has survived 3+ months unchanged.

Pros and Cons of the Options

Process specs

• Good, because durable across taste shifts.
• Good, because reusable across contexts.
• Bad, because requires noticing patterns before writing.

Preference specs

• Good, because faster to write.
• Bad, because crystallizes preferences prematurely.
• Bad, because lies about dynamic preferences.