Authority Matrix — Lead Engineer Consultation System

Authority Matrix — Lead Engineer Consultation System

This document defines the decision authority levels for the Conductor orchestrator and its Lead Engineer consultation system.

Authority Levels

Decision Matrix

Budget & Cost

Scope & Features

Architecture & Patterns

Dependencies

Quality & Testing

Business & Pricing

Implementation Details

Lead Engineer Skills

Consultation Flow

Orchestrator encounters decision
        │
        ▼
┌───────────────────────────────┐
│ Look up decision in matrix    │
└───────────────┬───────────────┘
                │
    ┌───────────┼───────────┐
    │           │           │
    ▼           ▼           ▼
USER_ONLY   LEAD_CONSULT  ORCHESTRATOR
    │           │           │
    │           ▼           │
    │    ┌──────────────┐   │
    │    │ Dispatch to  │   │
    │    │ appropriate  │   │
    │    │ Lead agent   │   │
    │    └──────┬───────┘   │
    │           │           │
    │     ┌─────┴─────┐     │
    │     │           │     │
    │     ▼           ▼     │
    │  Decision    ESCALATE │
    │  Made          │      │
    │     │          │      │
    │     ▼          │      │
    │   Log to       │      │
    │  metadata      │      │
    │     │          │      │
    │     ▼          │      │
    │  Continue      │      │
    │   loop         │      │
    │     │          │      │
    ▼     │          ▼      ▼
┌───────────────────────────────┐
│ Escalate to User / Decide     │
│ Autonomously / Continue       │
└───────────────────────────────┘

Lead Response Format

When Decision Made

{
  "lead": "architecture | product | tech | qa",
  "decision_made": true,
  "decision": "The specific decision made",
  "reasoning": "Why this decision was made, citing precedent or guidelines",
  "authority_used": "CATEGORY from matrix",
  "precedent": "Reference to existing pattern if applicable",
  "escalate_to": null,
  "escalation_reason": null
}

When Escalation Required

{
  "lead": "architecture | product | tech | qa",
  "decision_made": false,
  "decision": null,
  "reasoning": "Why this is outside lead's authority",
  "authority_used": null,
  "escalate_to": "user | cto-advisor",
  "escalation_reason": "Specific reason for escalation with context"
}

Logging Consultations

All lead consultations are logged to the track's metadata.json:

{
  "lead_consultations": [
    {
      "timestamp": "2026-01-31T14:30:00Z",
      "lead": "tech",
      "question": "Which date formatting library should we use?",
      "decision_made": true,
      "decision": "Use date-fns (8KB gzipped)",
      "reasoning": "Under 50KB threshold, tree-shakeable",
      "authority_used": "DEPENDENCY_SMALL",
      "escalated_to": null
    },
    {
      "timestamp": "2026-01-31T15:00:00Z",
      "lead": "product",
      "question": "Should we add templates feature?",
      "decision_made": false,
      "decision": null,
      "reasoning": "Not in current spec",
      "authority_used": null,
      "escalated_to": "user",
      "escalation_reason": "Adding templates would be a scope expansion"
    }
  ]
}

Escalation Triggers

The orchestrator immediately escalates to user (no lead consultation) when:

1. Fix cycle limit exceeded — 3 failed EVALUATE → FIX cycles
2. Blocker detected — External dependency blocking progress
3. Explicit USER_ONLY decision — From this matrix
4. Multiple leads disagree — Cannot resolve precedence
5. Security concern — Any security-related change
6. Production data impact — Migrations affecting live data

Quick Reference Card

Always Escalate to User

• Budget >$50/month
• Add/remove features from spec
• Breaking API changes
• Dependencies >50KB
• Coverage below minimum threshold
• Security/production data

Lead Can Decide

• Architecture: Patterns (existing), component org, schema (additive)
• Product: Spec interpretation, copy, task order
• Tech: Dependencies <50KB, implementation, types
• QA: Coverage thresholds, test types, mocks

Orchestrator Decides Autonomously

• File/variable naming
• devDependencies
• Task markers
• Following established conventions