Frame · 3 minutes
Name one bounded question, decision context, source range, and what is outside today's scope.
Deliberation Clock
Protect time for more than rebuttal.
Five stages keep framing, listening, examination, tradeoff analysis, and closing from collapsing into one contest for airtime.
Listen · 5 minutes
Hear each perspective without rebuttal. Invite charitable restatement and an accessible participation alternative.
Examine · 6 minutes
Separate claim types, inspect provenance and dates, and mark assumptions and uncertainty.
Trade off · 6 minutes
Compare benefits, burdens, side effects, implementation, the status quo, and reversibility.
Close · 4 minutes
Record learning, agreement, principled difference, source checks, next owners, and review points.
Common Ground Deck
A second look, not a winner.
Prompts ask about shared evidence, public values, the status quo, reversible steps, absent perspectives, principled dissent, and a responsible close. The app never records answers.
What the clock does not do
- No microphone or audio recording.
- No names, attendance, profiles, messages, or public group.
- No political-opinion entry, ideology score, persuasion model, poll, or vote.
- No claim that a timed format guarantees fairness, neutrality, consensus, or a policy outcome.
Closing record
A useful close distinguishes a decision from a recommendation, an agreement from silence, and a remaining question from a resolved fact. Participants can keep any written record outside the app under their own chosen process.