# IMA voice lock (template)

Carry a copy of this file beside every Jake-facing research paper / decision deck pack. Fill the pack-specific ship check before PDF export.

**Never produce an IMA/AIM document for Jake without the house writing guide:**
[JAKE-HOUSE-WRITING.md](./JAKE-HOUSE-WRITING.md) · live https://brand.agentsinmotion.ai/research/JAKE-HOUSE-WRITING.md

- Tone: lagom + eagerly qualified
- Bans: prime-contrast punch, marketing gerunds, dropped-verb traits, definite-article abstracts, phrase family ("what matters" / "lands" / "stands alone"), quantity triad, quantity headlines, metaphorical "gate"/gating (physical or CS/logic only), "dated stop," ops-instruction bleed, AI-slop word list, **method-theater / instruction rehash**
- Visual brand (navy, Geist, true 16:9) may stay
- Consultant punch decks and slogan H1s are forbidden
- Ship check below before PDF export

## Method-theater ban (Jake 2026-09-25)

Never stage research-process instructions as findings, key points, abstract bullets, slide kickers, or closing morals.

Doing the honest thing (not inventing unpublished TAM/CPM/MAU series; labeling thin claims; saying a figure is unavailable) is the default. It is not a contribution. Do not rehash the brief back at the reader.

**Banned:**
- "Where numbers are unpublished, the honest research move is to say so."
- "Where public numbers are missing, this paper says so rather than inventing TAM or CPM series."
- "We do not invent figures" / "no fabricated series" / "honest gap labeling" as a ranked finding or takeaway
- Closing slides or abstract sentences whose only point is that the authors followed the hygiene rules
- Any "contribution" that is just restating Chief/skill instructions

**Allowed:** In Methods, one dry sentence if needed for scope. Prefer silence. If a specific number is missing where the reader would expect it, say that once next to the claim — never elevate the hygiene rule itself into a major point.

**Test:** if you deleted the sentence, would the reader lose a fact about the world — or only a reminder about how agents were told to write? If the latter, cut it.

## Ship check (fill before PDF)

Artifact: `____________________________` (html / pdf / tex)

1. Lagom tone?
2. Reader-as-client (point first; evidence leads on research lane)?
3. Public label correct if hiring copy (else N/A)?
4. Zero hard BAN hits (phrase family, triad, quantity headline, unearned "the", prime-punch, dropped-verb, marketing gerund, metaphorical gate, ops-instruction bleed, method-theater, "dated stop")?
5. No cut-list words or AI-slop patterns?
6. Jake one-breath test?
7. Framing: scientific only; Bytestream labeled research subject only if scored; no product-recommendation; no Treg/spend on body/slides?
8. Continuity: CGM locks / true 16:9 / figures reused from paper when deck?

PDF export only after every item is yes.