The Aide methodology
Look past
the obvious.
Aide starts with one question: what am I being asked to decide, and what does it actually do? The method is designed to slow down the parts of thinking that are easiest to skip when the agenda is long and the vote is close.
It does not produce a recommended vote. It produces a structured, source-grounded examination that helps a councillor make their own judgement.
The method moves from what the decision is, through what it does and what it costs, to what it conflicts with, what it assumes, and what a councillor should ask before voting.
01. The decision
What exactly is being decided? What options are real, what is already committed, and what is the staff recommendation asking elected members to endorse?
02. The effect chain
Once the decision is clear, what does it actually do? Aide maps immediate effects, then traces what those effects trigger: second and third-order consequences, not just the first visible outcome.
03. The burden
Effects carry costs. Who pays, how much, and over what period? The analysis follows costs beyond the headline figure: who carries them, and when.
04. The tensions
Costs and effects don't exist in a vacuum. Does this contradict existing policy, law, the LTP, District Plan, Annual Plan, or the council's own previous decisions?
05. The commitments
Beyond outright contradiction, does the proposal align with the council's stated values? Does it honour the commitments the council says should guide its choices?
06. Treaty obligations
How does the decision affect the obligations council is bound to honour? Part of culturally competent public decision-making, not a compliance afterthought.
07. The assumptions
Every recommendation rests on something. What forecasts, definitions, constraints, or causal claims does this one rely on: and which should a councillor test?
08. The chamber questions
The analysis turns into specific, evidence-backed questions: not generic prompts like “consider the impacts,” but actual questions a councillor could ask in the chamber and expect a real answer to.
09. Beyond the summary
What is in the full document that the staff summary leaves out? What would a reasonable, astute councillor expect to see but cannot find?
10. The surprises
What is in the proposal that a ratepayer would not expect? These are often the details that matter most for trust, cost, and implementation.