reference
Decision Rights Matrix
A binding contract defining who owns which decisions across engineering, product, compliance, and GTM — keeping Seth and Cindy unblocked as peers without escalating every disagreement to Blair.
Drafted: April 30, 2026
Status: Draft v1 — requires sign-off from Blair, Cindy, and Seth before MemberIntel work begins
Owner: Blair Williams, CEO
Why this matrix exists
Cindy and Seth are peers, both reporting directly to Blair. Without a written matrix, peer-to-peer collaboration on a complex product launch degrades into Blair adjudicating tactical disputes. This document is the contract that prevents that.
The rule for anything not in this matrix: if Cindy and Seth disagree on a decision not explicitly covered here, the disagreement goes to Blair within 48 hours. No silent escalation drift.
Roles
- Blair Williams — CEO, MemberIntel. Strategy and final approval on material product decisions.
- Seth Shoultes — Lead Architect, MemberIntel. Technical product owner.
- Cindy Thoennessen — Product Lead, MemberIntel. Operational and execution lead.
- Santiago Perez Asis — Project Manager, Cross-Caseproof. Sprint cadence and dependency tracking.
Decision Rights Tables
A. Engineering & Technical Decisions
| Decision | Owner | Input from | Escalation path |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical architecture and implementation (brain design, data pipelines, AI/ML approach) | Seth (Blair final say on material choices) | Cindy (delivery dependencies), Mahmoud ad hoc | Blair |
| Vendor / tooling decisions (hosting, vector store, AI providers, observability) | Seth | Cindy (cost / contract terms) | Blair |
| Engineering hiring decisions | Seth | Danielle (cultural / operational fit interviews + onboarding logistics) | Blair |
| Sprint scope and engineering velocity | Seth (tracked by Santiago) | Cindy (delivery dependencies) | Blair |
| Code quality standards | Seth (with Ronald enforcing baseline; Senior AI Engineer once ramped) | — | Blair |
| Engineering team prioritization between MemberIntel internal needs and cross-team requests | Seth | Cindy (launch dependencies), Paul Carter (MemberCore impact) | Blair |
Tool surface design (query_customer_metrics, analyze_site, etc.) | Seth | Cindy (PRD requirements) | Blair |
| Entitlement layer design | Seth | Cindy (tier-feature matrix) | Blair |
| AI model routing rules (Sonnet/Haiku tier-gating) | Seth | Cindy (cost implications) | Blair |
| Prompt versioning and AI eval suite | Seth | Cindy (acceptance criteria) | Blair |
| Per-tenant data isolation architecture | Seth | outside privacy counsel (compliance constraints) | Blair |
| Cost controls and token budget caps | Seth | Cindy (impact on customer experience) | Blair |
| Performance and scalability targets | Seth | — | Blair |
| ADR (Architectural Decision Records) authoring | Seth | — | Blair |
B. Product & Business Decisions
| Decision | Owner | Input from | Escalation path |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product strategy, target customer, 18-month roadmap | Blair | Seth (technical feasibility), Cindy (market / customer feedback) | Final |
| Pricing model and packaging ($29/mo Pro, Free tier scope) | Blair | Cindy (rollout plan), Curt (sales enablement) | Final |
| Free vs Pro entitlement matrix (every feature × every tier) | Cindy proposes; Blair approves | Seth (technical feasibility) | Blair |
| Product Requirement Documents (PRDs) | Cindy drafts; Blair approves | Seth (technical input) | Blair |
| Product design (visual + UX) | Cindy coordinates; Blair approves | Russ + Meo execute | Blair |
| Launch timing (closed beta, public GA) | Joint: Cindy + Seth + Blair | Santiago (delivery confidence) | Blair makes final call if disagreement |
| Quality bar / “ship or hold” gate | Cindy holds the gate | Seth (technical readiness) | Blair on appeal |
| Brand identity (logo, color, voice, working name → final name) | Cindy proposes; Blair approves | Russ (visual direction) | Blair |
| Marketing positioning and messaging | Cindy + Curt (joint); Blair approves | Seth (product accuracy) | Blair |
| Beta cohort selection criteria | Cindy proposes; Blair approves | Curt (customer signal), Seth (usage requirements) | Blair |
| Beta-to-public-launch readiness criteria | Cindy proposes; Blair approves | Seth (technical readiness), Wray (CS readiness) | Blair |
| memberintel.com design and copy | Cindy | Russ + Meo (design), Sarah (copy), Curt (brand consistency) | Blair |
| Pricing page design | Cindy | Russ + Meo, Curt | Blair |
| In-MP-admin banner / menu integration design | Cindy | Seth (technical), Paul Carter (MP integration) | Blair |
| Sales enablement materials and training | Cindy + Curt’s team | Seth (product accuracy) | Blair |
| Support enablement materials and training | Cindy + Wray’s team | Seth (product accuracy) | Blair |
| Customer support model for Free users (docs / AI-first / human escalation) | Cindy proposes; Wray operates | Blair approves | Blair |
| Customer onboarding flow design | Cindy | Seth (technical constraints), Wray (CS readiness) | Blair |
| Free → Pro upgrade-moment surfaces (chat cap, insight cliffhanger, etc.) | Cindy | Seth (technical), Curt (conversion best practices) | Blair |
| A/B testing plan for upgrade copy | Cindy + Curt | — | Blair |
| Pricing iteration based on launch data (post-Q4) | Cindy proposes; Blair approves | Seth (cost implications) | Blair |
| Educational content scope (videos, FAQs, knowledge base) | Cindy directs scope | Carl Jessee (production), Sarah (written content) | Blair |
| Roadmap input collection (post-launch) | Cindy aggregates | All customer-facing teams | Blair + Seth (joint on what gets prioritized) |
C. Privacy, Legal & Compliance
| Decision | Owner | Input from | Escalation path |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outside privacy counsel selection and engagement | Cindy | Blair (budget approval) | Blair |
| ToS / Privacy Policy / DPA drafting | Cindy + outside counsel | Seth (data architecture), Blair (final approval) | Blair |
| Cross-pollination opt-out mechanism design | Cindy proposes; Seth implements | outside counsel | Blair |
| Customer-side data deletion pathway | Cindy proposes; Seth implements | outside counsel | Blair |
| Consent flow at signup | Cindy proposes; Seth implements | outside counsel | Blair |
| Data classification (anonymous telemetry vs personally identifying) | Cindy + Seth (joint) | outside counsel | Blair |
| GDPR / CCPA compliance posture | Cindy | outside counsel, Seth (technical implementation) | Blair |
D. Project Management Decisions
| Decision | Owner | Input from | Escalation path |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sprint cadence, ticket tracking infrastructure | Santiago | Seth (technical needs), Cindy (visibility needs) | Blair |
| Cross-rock dependency tracking | Santiago | All rock owners | Blair |
| Risk register and L10 scorecard | Santiago | All teams | Blair |
| Status reporting cadence to Blair | Santiago (data) + Cindy (MemberIntel narrative) | — | Blair |
| Phase milestone gating (e.g., Phase 1 → Phase 2) | Joint: Cindy + Seth + Blair | Santiago (delivery confidence) | Blair makes final call |
| Resource allocation (when does Meo / Kalpesh / Sarah start their dedicated phases?) | Blair (with Cindy + Seth input) | Russ, Thomas, Katelyn (home managers) | Blair |
E. Marketing, GTM, and Launch Coordination
| Decision | Owner | Input from | Escalation path |
|---|---|---|---|
| Internal-PR vs outside-agency engagement | Cindy proposes; Blair approves | Curt | Blair |
| Outside PR agency selection (if engaged) | Cindy | Curt | Blair |
| Press release content + embargo strategy | Cindy + PR agency | Seth (product accuracy), Blair (messaging) | Blair |
| Launch-day comms plan | Cindy | Curt, Wray, Santiago | Blair |
| Paid-acquisition campaign budget and channels | Curt (Cindy provides positioning + product input) | Blair (budget approval) | Blair |
| GA4 / Meta Pixel / analytics setup | Curt’s team (Cindy provides product event spec) | Seth (technical) | Blair |
| Email campaigns to existing MP customer base | Cindy + Curt’s team (joint) | — | Blair |
| Social media launch plan | Curt + Katelyn’s content team | Cindy (positioning) | Blair |
| Launch event (Huddle webinar, etc.) | Cindy + Curt | Carl Jessee (video content) | Blair |
| AEO content strategy for MemberIntel | Curt (Rock 1 owner) | Cindy (product positioning) | Blair |
F. People & Org Decisions
| Decision | Owner | Input from | Escalation path |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategic dissent on product direction (Cindy or Seth disagrees with Blair’s strategy) | Cindy or Seth raises directly to Blair | — | Blair (final) |
| Compensation / role decisions for Innovations team | Blair | Seth (engineering), Cindy (operational fit) | Final |
| Adding scope to MemberIntel V1 | Joint: Cindy + Seth + Blair | Santiago (impact analysis) | Blair |
| Cutting scope to hold timeline | Cindy proposes; Seth + Blair approve | Santiago (impact analysis) | Blair |
| Pulling matrixed contributors (Meo, Kalpesh, Sarah) back early to home teams | Joint: Blair + home manager (Russ / Thomas / Katelyn) | Cindy (impact on launch) | Blair |
| External partner relationships (Stripe, Anthropic, vendors) | Cindy (Seth on technical vendors) | Blair (when strategic) | Blair |
Norms (not decisions, but binding)
- Cindy doesn’t manage Seth’s people. She doesn’t direct engineers. She works through Seth or Santiago.
- Seth doesn’t direct content / marketing / website work. He works through Cindy.
- When Seth and Cindy disagree on something not in this matrix, they take it to Blair within 48 hours. No silent escalation drift.
- Strategic dissent goes to Blair, not into the workflow. If Cindy or Seth disagrees with a strategic direction, raise it directly with Blair. Don’t reroute through team workflows.
- AI tooling is the default workflow for Cindy. Notion AI / Linear AI for project management. AI for first-pass copy drafting. AI for synthesizing customer feedback.
- Citations are non-negotiable for Seth. Every AI response must cite the data it references (per SPEC §8.4).
- Server-side enforcement of model routing. Free users always route to Haiku; never user-configurable, never accidentally Sonnet.
- No fine-tuning of LLM weights in V1. All learning happens through brain content + retrieval.
- Honesty in marketing copy is non-negotiable. Per SPEC §4 — never imply non-MemberIntel customers’ data is used.
- MM/AA/WL legacy work is not part of MemberIntel. Cindy does not retain dual-product responsibility.
What this matrix does NOT cover
This matrix covers MemberIntel-specific decisions. It does NOT govern:
- Cross-Caseproof org rocks (Rocks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7) — those have their own owners
- MemberCore platform decisions outside MemberIntel scope — Paul Carter’s domain
- Other Innovations work outside MemberIntel — handled within Seth’s broader Innovations team mandate
- MM/AA/WL legacy product decisions — handled per the dissolution / stable-operations plan
If a decision spans MemberIntel and another org rock, default to Santiago surfacing it as a cross-rock dependency at L10, with Blair as final tiebreaker.
Sign-off
| Signature | Date |
|---|---|
| Blair Williams (CEO) | _____________ |
| Cindy Thoennessen (Product Lead) | _____________ |
| Seth Shoultes (Lead Architect) | _____________ |
This matrix is binding once signed. Changes require all three signatories to agree. Re-review at the end of Phase 3 (July 31) and Phase 5 (mid-October post-launch).
Document version: Draft v1 — derived from MemberIntel SPEC v1 plus role discussions.