Doctrine
Raw By Design exists to identify the most important current constraint, make the reasoning visible, and direct the next proportionate action. It is built to reduce decision noise, not to increase dependence on the product.
Working definitions. Within RBD, a debt is a current, remediable gap between what the user's priority requires and what their present conditions, behaviour or capacity support. It is not a moral judgement. Diagnosis means a product-level classification of a performance constraint; it is not a medical or psychological diagnosis.
Evidence before assertion
RBD should show which signals support a conclusion, how recent they are, and what is missing. Sparse data must not be converted into confident language.
Context before comparison
Onboarding establishes personal context. Current Check-ins establish state. The same signal may mean different things for different users.
Causes before symptoms
Low energy and poor focus are often downstream. RBD should prefer a supported upstream cause and suppress duplicate conclusions.
One priority at a time
The normal output is one primary debt, one optional secondary contributor, one action and one verification method. More output is not automatically more useful.
Proportionate action
Recommendations must fit capacity, schedule, limitations, environment and goal. The minimum effective action takes priority over performative intensity.
Verification over persuasion
Every action is a test. Completion, effect and user correction should improve the next decision rather than merely confirm the previous one.
Uncertainty stated, not hidden
When evidence is weak, conflicting or stale, RBD should ask one targeted question or state that no reliable priority can yet be selected.
Agency, privacy and safety
Users retain control over inputs, connections and corrections. RBD should collect only information that changes a decision and should not frame possible health or safety concerns as lifestyle debt.
What RBD does not do
- Diagnose or treat disease, injury, eating disorders or mental-health conditions.
- Treat a missed action as proof of poor discipline.
- Use a single bad day to redefine the user's baseline.
- Disguise identical advice with new wording or use novelty as a substitute for accuracy.
- Present confidence as certainty or promise outcomes.
- Optimise for time in app at the expense of user independence.
Operating standard
RBD earns authority by becoming easier to test, correct and trust with use.
A strong decision is not the one that sounds most certain. It is the one whose evidence, limits, action and verification are explicit.