sub-question-decomposition

Research

Tactic: Decompose a main question into a hierarchy of independently answerable sub-questions

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Sub-Question Decomposition

Decompose a main question into a hierarchy of independently answerable sub-questions — when the question is too complex to answer in one pass.

Orchestration Intent

Structure "decomposing a complex question" as: generate sub-questions → map dependencies → design answering order. The three steps run sequentially, each step's output being the next step's input.

Available SOPs

SOP	Responsibility	When to call
sub-question-generation	Decompose the main question into sub-questions	First step, mandatory
dependency-mapping	Map dependency relationships among sub-questions	After sub-questions are generated
answering-sequence-design	Design the optimal answering order	After the dependency graph is complete

Orchestration Pattern

Serial mode (the only mode):

sub-question-generation → sub-question list + independence argument
dependency-mapping → dependency graph + critical path
answering-sequence-design → execution sequence + parallelization opportunities

Each step strictly depends on the previous step's output; no parallelization.

Minimum Yield

≥3 sub-questions (M tier)
Each sub-question has an independence argument
Dependency graph (no circular dependencies)
Suggested answering sequence + parallelization opportunity identification

Yield Report

After execution, report:

Number of sub-questions generated
Number of dependency relationships
Critical path length
Groups of sub-questions that can be answered in parallel

Available SOPs

Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.

SOP	When to use
answering-sequence-design	SOP: Design the optimal answering order for sub-questions
dependency-mapping	SOP: map dependency relationships among sub-questions
sub-question-generation	SOP: Decompose a main research question into independently answerable sub-questions