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--- name: measurement-discipline description: > Fix the instrument before trusting the number. Use when someone says "the metric improved but I don't trust it", "measured more than the parts predict", "we want to improve X but nothing reads X", "the numbers don't add up", "requests/money/time are disappearing", or a measurement may perturb the system it measures. --- # Measurement Discipline **Problem shape:** a quantity is being read, improved, or argued about, but the instrument, the unit, or the conservation ledger behind it has never been audited. Symptoms: residuals outside noise, metrics without operational definitions, inputs and outputs that don't balance, observer effects, one-method-only results. ## Relevant geniuses | Agent | Use when | |---|---| | [curie](../../agents/genius/curie.md) | measured > predicted from known parts; instrument missing or unit undefined; measurement may perturb the system (Heisenbugs, observability overhead) | | [shannon](../../agents/genius/shannon.md) | "improving X" where X has no formal definition; method proposed without knowing the theoretical limit; a metric with no repeatable procedure | | [lavoisier](../../agents/genius/lavoisier.md) | money, data, requests, or time "disappearing"; inputs and outputs never balanced; the residual needs a name and a carrier | | [galileo](../../agents/genius/galileo.md) | phenomenon obscured by secondary effects; too fast/large/rare to observe directly; qualitative claims that need a number | | [einstein](../../agents/genius/einstein.md) | a concept in the metric has no measurement procedure; the rule gives different answers from different viewpoints | | [deming](../../agents/genius/deming.md) | reacting to noise as if it were signal — common vs special cause not separated | | [ekman](../../agents/genius/ekman.md) | a "subjective" domain needs objective coding; signal hides below normal temporal resolution; per-subject baselines missing | | [wu](../../agents/genius/wu.md) | a "law" or assumption everyone trusts has never actually been tested; increased precision could refute it | ## Invocation 1. Pick the best-fit agent above. If two or more fit, run `tools/genius-invoker.sh route "<problem>"` and take the top ranked match. 2. Load it: `tools/genius-invoker.sh invoke <agent> "<problem>"`, then read `agents/genius/<agent>.md` in full. 3. Apply the agent's `<workflow>` step by step — do not skip steps — and answer in its `<output-format>`. 4. Chain when the problem spans shapes (e.g. lavoisier finds the residual, curie isolates its carrier): `tools/genius-invoker.sh compose lavoisier curie -- "<problem>"`. 5. If no shape above matches, do not force a genius — use a standard team agent (INDEX.md routing rule). ## Refuse when - No reproduction or raw data exists — measurement discipline audits instruments, it does not invent readings. - The request is "make the metric look better" rather than "make the metric true".