🔄 Round System

Rounds are the engine of DCISN. Each task progresses through one or more timed feedback rounds followed by a decision round. Understanding rounds is key to getting the most out of the platform.

How Rounds Work

When a task is created, Round 1 opens immediately. Each round has a start time, an end time, and a type (feedback or decision). Consultants submit their input during the open window. When the timer runs out, the round closes automatically and the next one opens.

The Responsible and all members can see the live countdown timer on the task detail page and the dashboard.

Feedback Rounds

In a feedback round, Consultants submit their response. Depending on the task type:

Yes/No tasks: Consultants select Yes, No, or Abstain and optionally add a comment
Multiple Choice: Consultants pick one option and optionally comment
Suggestion: Consultants write free-text feedback (required)

You can configure 1–10 feedback rounds (depending on your plan). Multiple rounds let you iterate — Round 1 collects initial views, Round 2 lets consultants refine their positions after seeing the first round's summary.

Decision Round

The decision round is the final round — it exists only on Decision tasks. Once all feedback rounds close, the decision round opens automatically. Only the Decider can submit in this round. They review all consultant feedback and cast the binding decision.

When the Decider submits, the task status changes to Decided and all members receive an email with the outcome.

If the Decider is also Prof. Simon Wright (AI), the decision is submitted automatically when the round opens — no human action needed.

Decision Rounds Between Feedback Rounds

When a task has more than one feedback round, you can enable the Decision round between feedback rounds toggle at task creation. This is on by default.

With this toggle enabled, a decision round opens automatically after every feedback round — not just the last one. This gives the Decider an early exit opportunity: if the feedback so far is clear enough, they can decide immediately and skip the remaining rounds.

What the Decider sees

During an in-between decision round, the Decider lands on the decide page with a banner showing how many feedback rounds are still available. They have two options:

Submit a decision now — closes the task immediately. All remaining feedback rounds are skipped.
Open Next Feedback Round — closes the current decision round and starts the next feedback round. Consultants are notified by email.

Before clicking "Open Next Feedback Round", the Decider can post a comment or question in the Discussion panel to guide consultants in the next round.

If the in-between decision round expires

If the Decider takes no action before the decision round timer runs out, the system automatically opens the next feedback round — the process continues without losing any rounds.

The final feedback round is always mandatory

The last feedback round always ends with a mandatory decision round, regardless of the toggle setting. The Decider must submit a decision in this final round — there is no "Open Next Round" option when no further feedback rounds remain.

When to use this: Enable this toggle whenever you set up 2+ feedback rounds. It gives the Decider full control — they can decide early if consensus is clear, or use all planned rounds if the topic needs deeper exploration.

Round Timing

You set the duration of each round type independently:

Time per feedback round — how long each feedback round stays open
Time per decision round — how long the Decider has to act (decide or open the next round)

Durations can be set in hours, days, or weeks. The task's overall end time is calculated automatically. With the decision-between-rounds toggle on, the end time accounts for one decision round after each feedback round:

Toggle OFF: (n × feedback time) + 1 × decision time
Toggle ON: (n × feedback time) + (n × decision time)

Rule of thumb: 1–2 days per feedback round works well for most teams. Decision rounds can be shorter (4–24 hours) since the Decider has already seen the feedback.

Response Visibility

You control whether consultants can see each other's responses before or after the decision (Pro+). Options:

Visible before decision: All consultants can see each other's answers during active rounds — encourages transparency but may cause anchoring bias
Hidden before decision: Each consultant responds independently — reduces social influence, better for sensitive topics
Visible/hidden after decision: Controls whether the feedback history is shown to consultants once the task is decided

Adding Rounds Mid-Task

The Responsible can add extra rounds at any time while the task is open (Pro+). This is useful if the initial feedback reveals the need for a deeper second look. New rounds are appended after any existing pending rounds.

Reopening a Closed Task

If a task's last round has expired or the task was completed, the Responsible can reopen it with additional rounds (Pro+). The task status reverts to Open and new rounds begin. This is useful for revisiting a decision after new information emerges.

Automatic Reminders

The system sends:

A notification to all members when each round opens
A mandatory 2-hour deadline reminder to all consultants who have not yet responded
Configurable recurring reminders (Pro+) — set to fire after the round opens, every X hours, or every X days
Manual reminders — the Responsible can trigger a one-off reminder to any individual consultant from the task team panel (rate-limited to once per hour per person)