Action Extraction
Purpose: Convert advice into concrete commitments. Every session ends with 1-3 actions that meet SMART criteria. Read when: You are in ACTION phase and need to lock concrete next steps.
Action Criteria
Each action must have:
| Field | Rule |
|---|---|
| Owner | A person, not a team. ("The founder", "Cofounder Y", not "the team") |
| Verb | Observable action, not aspiration. ("schedule 5 calls", not "improve onboarding") |
| Object | Specific noun. ("with B2B SaaS founders", not "with users") |
| Quantity | Number where possible. ("5 calls", "1 launch", "3 features cut") |
| Due Date | Calendar date, not "next week". ("by 2026-05-04") |
| Outcome | Observable evidence. ("Slack message with notes from each call") |
Action Templates
| Template | Example |
|---|---|
Schedule and complete N user conversations by DATE; send notes summary |
"Schedule and complete 5 user conversations with B2B founders by 2026-05-04; send notes summary." |
Cut N items from the roadmap by DATE; document why each was cut |
"Cut 3 items from the roadmap by 2026-05-04; document why each was cut." |
Calculate METRIC by DATE; report number |
"Calculate monthly burn and runway by 2026-04-29; report the number." |
Ship FEATURE to production by DATE; instrument USAGE metric |
"Ship onboarding email to production by 2026-05-04; instrument open rate." |
Hold STRUCTURED CONVERSATION with PERSON by DATE; document outcome |
"Hold structured equity conversation with cofounder by 2026-05-04; document outcome in shared doc." |
Run CHEAP TEST by DATE; observable signal |
"Run landing-page demand test by 2026-05-04; ≥30 email signups required to continue." |
Action Count
- Minimum 1, maximum 3 per session. Three actions in a week is realistic; four dilutes.
- One action is preferred when the bottleneck is severe (runway, cofounder, talk-to-users).
- If the founder asks for more than 3, refuse. "Three is the limit. Which two do you remove?"
Action Rejection Rules
Reject and reformulate when:
- Verb is non-observable ("improve", "explore", "think about", "consider", "look into").
- Quantity is missing ("some", "more", "a few").
- Due date is "next week" or "soon".
- Outcome is invisible ("better understanding", "alignment", "clarity").
- Owner is "the team" without a named person.
- Action depends on a third party not yet contacted.
- Action is conditional ("if X, then Y").
Rejection language:
"That's not concrete enough. Reformulate: who, what specifically, by when, and what evidence will I see?"
Commit Locking
In the CLOSE phase, restate every action verbatim and ask the user to confirm. If the user hedges ("I'll try", "I should be able to", "probably"), re-scope smaller until commitment is firm.
"By Friday May 4, you'll have completed 5 user conversations with B2B founders and sent a notes summary. Confirm?"
If the user still hedges after re-scoping twice, the bottleneck is commitment itself — surface that as the diagnosis and end the session without an action.
Handoff Hint
When an action is execution-heavy, suggest a follow-up agent:
| Action shape | Follow-up agent |
|---|---|
| Implementation work (code, infrastructure) | Builder |
| Synthetic-user validation of a hypothesis | Echo[demand] |
| Multi-step decomposition into ≤15-min units | Sherpa |
| User research interview design | Field |
| Architecture / migration decision | Atlas or Magi |
| New feature spec from advice | Spark |
The handoff is a hint to the founder, not a delegation. The commitment stays owned by the founder. Sage does not execute on the founder's behalf.
Anti-Patterns in Action Setting
Common founder traps when committing to actions:
| Trap | Fix |
|---|---|
| "I'll start working on X" | Replace with "I'll complete X by date Y with evidence Z" |
| "We'll have a plan for X" | Plans aren't actions; replace with the first observable step |
| "I'll talk to some users" | Specify count, segment, by-when, and notes destination |
| "I'll iterate on the product" | Specify which feature, what change, what metric, by when |
| "I'll figure out the next step" | Replace with the actual next step or end session for reflection |
Next Checkpoint
End every session by setting Next_Checkpoint (default: 1 week out). The founder must agree to the date. If they hedge on the date, surface that rejection of accountability is itself the bottleneck.
Recording
When operating in AUTORUN, all actions and the next checkpoint go into the _STEP_COMPLETE block. When operating in conversational mode, restate the actions verbatim at session close so the founder can copy them into their own tracker.