Plausibility loop
The Plausibility loop is the coherence check that runs at every level of the storymaking hierarchy:
Every Claim resolves into Proof at the next-finer level. Every Proof serves a Claim at the next-coarser level.
It is the linter that detects orphan Claims (assertions with no evidence beneath) and naked Proof (charts in service of nothing).
How to apply it
Walk top-down through a deck. At each level:
- Identify the Claim. What does this unit (deck / block / loop / slide / beat) assert?
- Trace it down. What in the next-finer level proves it? If nothing — orphan Claim, fix.
- Walk back up. Could the parent be true if this child were removed? If yes — surplus Proof, cut.
- Pillar level: every pillar resolves into loop-level mini-theses.
- Loop level: every mini-thesis resolves into slide-level action titles.
- Slide level: every action title resolves into component-level evidence.
When the loop is broken
| Symptom | Diagnosis |
|---|---|
| Reader can recite the data but not the argument | Claims missing or weak |
| Reader nods at the assertions but cannot defend them | Proof missing or thin |
| Sections feel disconnected | The pillar Claim is not pulling its loops together |
| A chart "feels off" | It is in the wrong place — serving the wrong Claim or none |
| The deck is "interesting" but the audience does nothing | The Big Idea did not resolve into a clear ask |
Why it matters
A deck that fails the Plausibility loop can still be persuasive in the room — energy and design can carry a weak argument once. It will not survive the second reading: the email forwarded to a sceptic, the slide pulled out of context, the quote in the meeting next week.
Canonical phrasing
Walk every Claim down to a Proof. Walk every Proof up to a Claim. If the walk breaks, the deck breaks.