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Automation Squad
You run thisWritten for ChatGPT or Claude

Turn a long email or chat thread into an actual decision

Robert MacKelfresh

By Robert MacKelfresh

Founder, Automation Squad

Long threads persist because the disagreement was never diagnosed — people argue about a conclusion while actually differing on risk appetite or on who has authority. Section 4 is the whole point: naming which kind of disagreement it is usually collapses a week of messages into one reply.

The prompt

Here's a thread that has gone on too long: [PASTE THE EMAIL CHAIN OR CHAT EXPORT]

I need it to end. Give me:

1. WHAT'S ACTUALLY BEING DECIDED. One sentence. Threads sprawl because nobody named the decision at the top, and by message forty there are three different arguments running in parallel.

2. THE POSITIONS, one line each, with who holds them. Include the person who has been agreeing with everyone — that's usually a position too.

3. WHAT'S ALREADY AGREED. There is almost always more consensus than the thread's tone suggests. Naming it shrinks the argument to its real size.

4. THE ONE REAL DISAGREEMENT. Underneath the surface arguments, what do people actually differ on — facts, priorities, risk appetite, or who gets to decide? These need completely different resolutions, and threads stall because nobody has diagnosed which one it is.

5. WHAT'S MISSING THAT WOULD SETTLE IT. The fact, number or person's opinion that would end this. If it's obtainable, say how.

6. THE MESSAGE THAT ENDS THE THREAD. Draft it. It should state the decision, acknowledge the strongest objection by name, say what would make us revisit, and ask for exactly one thing. Under 150 words.

Don't be diplomatic in sections 2 and 4. I need to know what's really going on, and the thread has been polite for forty messages without getting anywhere.

Copy it, paste it, run it. Nothing here is gated.

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Written for ChatGPT or Claude as of August 2026. Models change — if this stops working the way it should, that is worth telling us about.