Weaving sources without drowning

I used to paste interviews into a box and ask for themes. The box was generous. It gave me five pillars and a quote for each. The room nodded. Nobody could say which customer would still say the same thing on Tuesday.

Cards, not a paste

Athena wants sources as cards: a claim, a provenance, a date, a confidence you are willing to speak. A card is allowed to be ugly. It is not allowed to be anonymous.

When two cards disagree, the loom does not pick a winner. It puts them on the table and asks which sitting you are actually having. Most “insights” die here, which is the point.

The thread is a decision, not a vibe

A thread is the smallest story that would change a recommendation. If a source cannot touch the last sentence of the brief, it belongs in the grove as a question, not in the weave as evidence.

This is slower than a dump. It is also the only pace at which a named seat can still remember why they signed.

What I no longer ask the model

I do not ask it to “find the insight.” I ask it to show me the places the cards refuse each other. Insight, if it arrives, arrives as a sentence I can read aloud without wincing.

If you need a firehose, you do not need a loom. You need a week off the tools.