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SynthBoard

Alternative · Decision Review

An alternative to Lookback
for the call, not just the retro

Lookback-style decision-review tools help teams reflect after the fact. As an alternative to Lookback for the step before, SynthBoard runs the board that produces the decision — and the memo is there when the outcome lands.

Start free See how it works

In short

No — a different mechanic. Lookback-style tools structure the team retrospective on a decision. SynthBoard runs the board that produces the decision, and you can bring the outcome back to a new board for the autopsy. Many teams use both.

Last reviewed

An example

One ask, start to finish.
What comes back is a memo.

How a board takes a call like this: her read, who sits, what they ask first, then the call — with how sure they are, who disagreed and the first step.

Decision Review

Example · Board of 3

What did our panel get wrong about this decision, looking back six months later?

Chief of staff

This one needs a board: The Skeptic, The Strategist and The Data Scientist. The Skeptic questions every premise. Each researches alone first, then they react to one another — and on a decision, two of them take opposed sides.

  • The SkepticRisk Assessor
  • The StrategistCompetitive Expert
  • The Data ScientistAI/ML Specialist

Asked first

How sure are you of the number this plan rests on?

MeasuredA good guessA hope

The board’s call

The original panel correctly flagged the implementation-creep watch-out but underweighted the customer-success staffing gap.

Implementation-creep watch-out was correct and was ignored. CS staffing gap was the bigger miss — not flagged at all.

Confidence78 · High

The Data Scientist disagreed

“Future product-launch boards should seat The Customer by default”

First step Test what The Data Scientist flagged before you commit.this week

Board of 3 · up to 135 credits on the card · an example, not a recorded run

Other asks people bring here

Several asks in one message become several rooms, each with its expert and its own price on the card. Keep or drop any, then convene them together.

  • How would a structured boardroom have framed the call we are now retrospecting? — The Strategist, up to 85 credits
  • What is the watch-out we explicitly flagged that we then ignored? — The Data Scientist, up to 85 credits
  • Which of our recent decisions deserves a full autopsy session? — The Operator, up to 85 credits

What you get

What she handles.
On this kind of call.

A board for the decision itself

Opposed experts argue the call before you commit: the memo gives the call, the conditions, the risks, and who disagreed and why.

An autopsy when the outcome lands

Bring the memo and what actually happened to a new board, and ask what was knowable at the time. The dissent you overruled is already in writing.

A memo to revisit

Your first move becomes a commitment with a date, so the retrospective has something specific to check against.

Why SynthBoard

Why SynthBoard for this.
Not one voice. A board.

A board, not just a review

Lookback-style tools structure the retrospective. SynthBoard structures the decision itself, then gives the retrospective a written record.

Your decisions stay on file

What you decided comes back when a new ask would reverse it, so the lesson reaches the next call.

Confidence that admits dissent

The memo’s confidence drops with dissent and is never rated above 90 — an honest marker to check the outcome against.

The dissent, in writing

Who disagreed, why, and what would change the call stay on the memo, so the autopsy does not rely on memory.

Who sits

The experts for this call.
Each one holds a position.

Your Chief of Staff proposes who sits for the call, and every board is built with someone whose job is to argue against the obvious answer. Name an expert and they take a seat; tell her who you want on your board and they sit by default. How many seats a board has depends on your plan.

Pick an expert

Hover, tap or tab throughSwipe, then tap one
  • GPT
  • Claude
  • Gemini
  • Grok

Seats are spread across model families: GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and more.

In their words

A retrospective without the original argument is guesswork. Keep the dissent in writing, and the autopsy stays honest.
The Skeptic Risk AssessorThe Skeptic on keeping the original record

Questions

Fair questions.
Straight answers.

What people ask before they bring this call to a board.

Is SynthBoard a direct alternative to Lookback?

No — a different mechanic. Lookback-style tools structure the team retrospective on a decision. SynthBoard runs the board that produces the decision, and you can bring the outcome back to a new board for the autopsy. Many teams use both.

When should I use SynthBoard instead of a decision-review tool?

When the bottleneck is the quality of the decision, not the quality of the retrospective. When you want opposed views argued before the call, with the dissent in writing for the review afterwards.

When is a dedicated decision-review tool still the right call?

When the value is structured team reflection — psychological safety, learning culture, blame-free post-mortems across an org. SynthBoard runs the analytical layer; a review tool runs the human retrospective with the team.

How does the price compare?

They solve different problems. Free to start — 150 credits every month + 250 to start. Talking to your Chief of Staff costs nothing. A board shows its price on the card before it runs — up to 135 credits for a 3-seat board on Free — and a board never bills above its card. Paid plans are $20, $50 or $99 a month (1 credit = $0.01 USD). Decision-review tooling varies widely by vendor.

What does SynthBoard NOT do that a decision-review tool does?

No team retrospective facilitation, no blame-free post-mortem template, no longitudinal team-reflection tracking, no shared team workspace. SynthBoard runs the analytical autopsy with AI experts, not the human one with your team.

Can I run a SynthBoard autopsy on a decision I made a year ago?

Yes. Bring the original context, the outcome and what surprised you. The board works through what was knowable at the time, what was not, and what to carry into the next similar call.

Keep exploring

Nearby decisions, audiences and methods inside SynthBoard.

SynthBoard (synthboard.ai) is one place for your business, your life, and every hard call. Your Chief of Staff keeps what you tell her on file, and 24 named experts on different AI models take the calls — one expert for a consult, a board with opposed seats for the hard ones — and hand back a memo with the call, the dissent and the first move. How it works.

A different mechanic for the same hard call.
Start free, with one message.

Where is our retrospective process leaning on hindsight bias?Which of our recent decisions deserves a full autopsy session?What is the watch-out we explicitly flagged that we then ignored?

It waits in her box after you sign up. Nothing is sent until you press send. Tell your Chief of Staff the call. She proposes who sits from 24 named experts, and nothing runs until you tap. Free to start. No card.