# Use Case: Personal Briefing Feed (Knowledge Workers + Consumers)

**Date:** 2026-02-21  
**Author:** @tidal-visionary  
**Status:** Proposed beachhead

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## 1. One-Line Definition

A daily and in-the-moment briefing feed that ranks what matters most for a person right now, adapts immediately to lightweight feedback, and explains why each item is shown.

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## 2. The User (Not Developers)

### Primary Persona

**Information-overloaded decision maker**

- Works in product, strategy, operations, media, investing, policy, or as a highly engaged consumer.
- Consumes content to make decisions, not just to be entertained.
- Feels overwhelmed by tabs, newsletters, feeds, podcasts, and chatbots.
- Wants control over what appears (`more`, `less`, `hide`, `mute`) without heavy setup.
- Expects trust signals and source quality, not clickbait recirculation.

### Secondary Persona

**Curious consumer with intent**

- Follows multiple topics (career, health, finance, AI, hobbies).
- Wants a short, high-value briefing instead of infinite scroll.
- Will use the product if value appears on day 1 with minimal configuration.

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## 3. User Job To Be Done

### Functional Job

"Help me understand what matters now in my domains without spending an hour hunting."

### Emotional Job

"Make me feel informed and in control, not behind and overwhelmed."

### Social Job

"Help me sound current and prepared in meetings and conversations."

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## 4. Two-Sentence Hook

Every morning, get a briefing ranked for what actually matters to you right now, with clear "why this" reasons and no endless scrolling.  
Tap `more`, `less`, or `hide` once, and the next refresh immediately adapts so your feed gets smarter in minutes, not weeks.

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## 5. End-to-End User Experience

### 5.1 Day-0 to Day-1

1. User picks 5-10 interests, desired depth, and hard excludes.
2. User chooses time budget (`5 min`, `10 min`, `20 min`) and preferred formats.
3. Product delivers first `Today Brief` with 10-20 ranked items.
4. Each card shows a short explanation:
   - "Trending in your cohort"
   - "Matches your finance + AI priority"
   - "New source for exploration"
5. User gives 3-5 feedback actions (`more`, `less`, `hide topic`, `mute source`, `save`).
6. Feed refresh shows immediate adaptation.

### 5.2 Daily Loop

1. Morning brief arrives via app/email/push.
2. User scans top cards quickly.
3. User opens selected cards for deeper summary/source context.
4. User gives lightweight feedback.
5. System updates ranking immediately for next retrieval.
6. Midday and evening updates are optional and scoped by time budget.

### 5.3 Session-Aware Interaction

1. User asks: "Only show items relevant to this week's strategy memo."
2. Session context constrains ranking while preserving global user profile.
3. Session expires or is closed; long-term profile remains stable.

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## 6. Pressure Test (From the User Point of View)

### 6.1 Test Method

Pressure test assumes a skeptical user comparing against current habits:

- Existing feeds (X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Reddit, news apps)
- Newsletters and podcasts
- General AI assistants

The product only wins if the user can feel practical value within 1-3 sessions.

### 6.2 Core User Questions and Required Answers

| User Question | User Risk | Product Must Prove |
|---|---|---|
| "Why not just use my current feeds?" | No reason to switch | Better relevance + less noise + explicit control in one place |
| "Will this take too much setup?" | Onboarding drop-off | First useful briefing in < 3 minutes |
| "Can I trust this?" | Wrong or low-quality items | Clear source quality signals + transparent "why this" |
| "Will it trap me in a bubble?" | Repetitive narrow feed | Enforced diversity + exploration budget |
| "If I say less of this, does it actually change?" | Learned helplessness | Visible adaptation on next refresh |
| "Does it respect my time?" | Fatigue and churn | Time-budget mode with 5-minute high-value brief |
| "Can I safely use this for work decisions?" | Reputation risk | Freshness guarantees, quality gates, and easy source verification |
| "Is my data private?" | Trust barrier | Explicit controls for retention, session scope, and deletion |

### 6.3 Failure Modes That Kill Adoption

| Failure Mode | User Reaction | Severity |
|---|---|---|
| Feed still noisy after 2 days | "This is another feed app." | Critical |
| Feedback actions appear ignored | "I have no control." | Critical |
| Explanations are generic or fake | "This is smoke and mirrors." | High |
| One source dominates repeatedly | "Biased and boring." | High |
| Important updates are stale | "I cannot rely on this." | High |
| Too many notifications | "Annoying, uninstall." | Medium |
| Onboarding asks too much | "Not worth it." | Medium |

### 6.4 Pass Criteria (User-Perceived)

1. User can identify at least 3 briefing items as "actually useful" in first session.
2. User sees obvious feed adaptation after 3 feedback actions.
3. User can explain why each top card appeared using the provided reason labels.
4. User does not feel forced to scroll endlessly; time-budget mode feels real.
5. User returns on Day 2 without a reminder from support or onboarding prompts.

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## 7. Why This Beachhead Fits tidalDB

This use case directly exercises tidalDB primitives without requiring a broad horizontal platform story on day 1:

- **Signals:** real-time positive and negative feedback.
- **Ranking profiles:** configurable briefing logic by context and time budget.
- **Diversity:** hard constraints to avoid source/topic over-concentration.
- **Cohorts:** "trending for people like me" layer.
- **Sessions:** short-lived task context (memo prep, market scan, exam prep).
- **Closed feedback loop:** next retrieval reflects feedback immediately.

This is materially different from search-first systems and generic chat assistants because ranking quality improves through continuous, explicit user control.

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## 8. Product Requirements (User-First)

### 8.1 Must-Have V1 Capabilities

1. `Today Brief` ranking with clear reasons.
2. Lightweight controls: `more`, `less`, `hide topic`, `mute source`, `save`.
3. Immediate feedback reflection on next refresh.
4. Time-budget view (`5/10/20` minute mode).
5. Diversity constraints for source and topic spread.
6. Baseline cohort view: "trending for people like you."
7. Source transparency and one-tap source access.

### 8.2 Should-Have V1.5 Capabilities

1. Session-scoped task mode ("for this meeting only").
2. Morning/midday/evening briefing cadence controls.
3. Digest email + mobile app parity.
4. Credibility filters (verified sources, quality thresholds).

### 8.3 Explicit Non-Goals for Beachhead

1. Building a developer platform first.
2. Full social graph product.
3. Monetization optimization surfaces.
4. End-to-end enterprise admin suite in V1.

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## 9. User-Facing Metrics

### 9.1 Activation

1. First briefing completion rate.
2. Median time to first "useful item saved."
3. Feedback action rate in first session.

### 9.2 Retention

1. D1, D7, D30 return rate.
2. Average sessions per active day.
3. Percentage of users using briefing at least 4 days per week.

### 9.3 Quality

1. "Useful item rate" per session.
2. Repeated-unwanted-item rate after negative feedback.
3. Diversity score by source/topic in top 10 results.
4. Freshness score for time-sensitive domains.

### 9.4 Trust

1. Explanation usefulness rating.
2. Source credibility acceptance rate.
3. Reported "feed felt biased/repetitive" rate.

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## 10. Launch Plan (Beachhead Scope)

### Phase A: Concierge Pilot (20-50 users)

1. Target one segment: strategy/product/analyst professionals.
2. Run daily brief with strong manual QA on source quality and reasons.
3. Capture explicit user interview feedback after each week.

### Phase B: Productized Beta (200-500 users)

1. Self-serve onboarding under 3 minutes.
2. Reliable immediate feedback loop.
3. Basic cohort view and time-budget mode.

### Phase C: Scaled Consumer Entry

1. Multi-domain templates (finance, tech, health, creator economy).
2. Push/email cadence personalization.
3. Quality and trust controls as default UX, not advanced settings.

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## 11. Strategic Risks and Mitigations

| Risk | Impact | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
| Trying to solve too many surfaces at once | Slow execution, weak product feel | Ship one briefing surface first |
| Over-personalization creates bubble | Reduced discovery trust | Enforce exploration/diversity budgets |
| Weak source quality gates | Credibility collapse | Add quality floor and transparent sourcing |
| Slow adaptation to user feedback | Perceived irrelevance | Prioritize immediate write-to-read reflection |
| Too much AI summary, not enough evidence | Trust erosion | Keep source links and quote-backed rationale visible |

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## 12. Kill Criteria (Be Honest Early)

Stop or pivot if any of the following remain true after two iteration cycles:

1. D7 retention remains below acceptable threshold for target segment.
2. Users do not perceive adaptation after direct feedback actions.
3. "Useful item rate" fails to outperform a simple baseline feed.
4. User interviews repeatedly describe the product as "another noisy feed."

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## 13. Decision

This is the right forward-looking beachhead for tidalDB if the goal is knowledge workers and consumers rather than developers.

It is narrow enough to ship, painful enough to matter, and aligned with tidalDB's actual architectural advantage: real-time, feedback-aware ranking with explicit user control and transparent reasons.
