# Consensus Mapping

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- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-skyf0xx-better-thinking-consensus-mapping`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [skyf0xx](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/skyf0xx)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Agent Skills](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/agent-skills)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [skyf0xx](https://github.com/skyf0xx)
- **Source:** https://github.com/skyf0xx/better-thinking/tree/master/skills/consensus-mapping
- **Website:** https://zenbin.org/p/better-thinking

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-skyf0xx-better-thinking-consensus-mapping
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# Consensus Mapping

Measure the actual gradient of agreement across a group instead of forcing a binary vote that hides where the real disagreement lives.

## Why

A binary vote collapses a spectrum of "strongly for" to "strongly against, will actively block" into a single number, hiding both near-unanimous soft support and a small but intense veto-level objection. Mapping the gradient makes the group's real state visible before it's acted on.

## Use when / Don't use when

- **Use when:** a group decision needs real buy-in, not just a nominal majority; a quick vote feels like it's hiding real dissent.
- **Don't use when:** a simple majority vote is genuinely sufficient and buy-in from the minority isn't required for implementation to succeed.

## Inputs → Outputs

- **Inputs:** a group facing a decision with varying levels of agreement.
- **Outputs:** a gradient map of the group's position, with any veto-level objections surfaced explicitly rather than averaged away.

## Principles

- Use a gradient scale — enthusiastic support, support with reservations, neutral, disagree but will go along, block — rather than binary yes/no.
- A single strong "block" carries different weight than several "reservations" and should be surfaced, not averaged into the mean.
- The goal is often not unanimous enthusiasm but the absence of unaddressed blocking objections.

## Procedure

1. State the proposal precisely enough to be rated.
2. Have each participant rate their position on a gradient scale, ideally simultaneously, to avoid anchoring on the first vocal response.
3. Map the distribution: where does the group cluster, and where's the spread?
4. Surface any block-level objections explicitly — don't let them wash out in an averaged score.
5. For blocks or strong reservations, understand the underlying concern before proceeding.
6. Decide: proceed with addressed concerns noted, revise the proposal, or escalate if a genuine block remains.

## Common mistakes

- Converting the gradient back into a binary average, hiding exactly what the technique was meant to surface.
- Letting the loudest objector's position stand in for the whole group's gradient.
- Using this technique for decisions where genuine buy-in isn't actually necessary.

## Examples

- A team deciding on a technical direction.
- A co-op's governance vote.
- A jury's deliberation check-in before a final verdict push.

## Related

- [[interest-based-bargaining]] — the technique for resolving a surfaced block-level objection.
- [[retrospective-facilitation]] — uses this mapping when a retro's interpretation is contested.
- [[session-design]] — determines when this technique belongs in a session's agenda.

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [skyf0xx](https://github.com/skyf0xx)
- **Source:** [skyf0xx/better-thinking](https://github.com/skyf0xx/better-thinking)
- **License:** MIT
- **Homepage:** https://zenbin.org/p/better-thinking

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-skyf0xx-better-thinking-consensus-mapping
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/skyf0xx
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

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