# Roleswap Argument — Debrief

> You did not change anyone's mind. You made both positions stateable without distortion — and that is the floor a real decision can finally be built on.
> Use with `roleswap-argument-guide.md`. The land-it close at minute 20 is the compressed version; this sheet is the full one.

## How to run this debrief

- Test the swap first: ask whether each side would accept the other's account of its own position. If not, the swap hasn't happened yet — do it again before debriefing.
- Pull out the one true thing each side found in the other. That's the seam a joint solution can open along.
- End on the shared need stated in a sentence neither side objects to — the common ground the next decision sits on.

## Read the board

1. **Both positions, restated fairly.** If everyone in the room can now say each side's case in a way that side would accept, the swap actually happened. If one side still can't, you're back in the loop.
2. **The one true thing each side found in the other.** Not a concession — an honest point in a position they don't hold. That's the seam where a joint solution can start.
3. **The shared need both positions are clumsily serving.** Say it in a sentence neither side would object to; that sentence is the smallest common ground you now have.

## The four debrief questions

- When you argued the other side, where did you catch yourself slipping into parody — and what did that slip cost you?
- Name one thing that is genuinely true in the position you *don't* hold. If you can't, what would make it findable?
- Now back on your own side — did restating your position after the swap change anything? What, precisely?
- What would a proposal have to include so the shared need is honored, not just one side's version of it?

## Failure modes of the debrief

| Failure mode | Why it happens | The rescue |
|---|---|---|
| The swap reads as a joke | Parody performed instead of argued | Run it again as someone who genuinely believes it, or hand the card to a volunteer who will. |
| "There's nothing to learn from them" | A position defended as obviously right | Ask for exactly one true thing in the other; the refusal itself is the thing worth surfacing. |
| Nobody returns to their own side changed | The exercise stayed intellectual | Have each person restate their own position out loud now, and name what they're carrying from the swap. |