---
title: "The decision ladder"
description: "Each decision is answered at the lowest rung that can answer it: an agreed rule, a past decision, a smaller model, a large model, or a person."
url: "https://docs.octo.ad/decision-ladder/"
id: "decision-ladder"
type: "concept"
audience: "operator"
dateModified: "2026-11-06"
productArea: "the decision ladder"
keywords: ["decision ladder"]
---

# The decision ladder

> Each decision is answered at the lowest rung that can answer it: an agreed rule, a past decision, a smaller model, a large model, or a person.

## What it is for

People should spend their attention on the calls only people should make. The ladder keeps every other question off their desk, and keeps the ones that matter on it.

## The five rungs

- **Rule.** A rule your people agreed.
- **Replay.** A decision already made on the same question.
- **Local judge.** A smaller model choosing among set options.
- **Frontier model.** A large model reasoning through a new question.
- **Person.** What only a person should decide.

One line on each: [the five rungs](/decision-ladder/rungs/).

## A person is always the top rung

Anything consequential or irreversible: actions that leave the organization, such as outbound messages or payments, and higher-stakes decisions, which ask for a more deliberate confirmation. You decide where the line sits, lane by lane.

- [The five rungs, one line each](/decision-ladder/rungs/): Plain definitions of rule, replay, local judge, frontier model and person: what each rung is for.
- [When a decision goes to a person](/decision-ladder/when-a-person-decides/): What always reaches a person, how it reaches them, and what happens if nobody answers.
- [Agree a rule for repeat decisions](/decision-ladder/agree-a-rule/): Turn decisions a person keeps making the same way into a rule your people agreed, on the record.