Concepts
The irreducible epistemic atoms underlying the curriculum. 4,828 atoms across 8 types
Keep commitments at 70-85% of capacity — the 15-30% slack…
Maintain commitment-to-capacity ratio between 0.70 and 0.85 to preserve system stability, keeping 15-30% of capacity uncommitted as structural buffer for variance absorption.
When commitments exceed capacity, only three fixes work
When commitment-to-capacity ratio exceeds 1.0, intervene only through cut (remove commitment entirely), defer (move to future period with capacity), or delegate (transfer to someone else)—productivity techniques cannot solve overcommitment caused by arithmetic mismatch.
Normal daily capacity variation is not a problem — only…
Treat common-cause capacity variation (daily fluctuations within your normal 2-5 hour range) as system-inherent rather than problems requiring intervention; investigate and respond only to special-cause variation (events falling outside normal range).
Distribute work unevenly across the week — load…
Allocate weekly focused work hours unevenly based on predicted daily capacity levels (more hours to high-capacity days, fewer to low-capacity days) rather than distributing work uniformly across all days.
Plan from your average capacity, not your best day — five…
After measuring five days of actual focused work time, use the daily average (not the best day or hoped-for number) as your baseline planning capacity for all future scheduling decisions.
Two weeks at sprint pace creates recovery debt — expect…
When sprint pace (exceeding sustainable pace) is maintained for more than two consecutive weeks, expect proportional recovery debt requiring at least one week of reduced output to repay accumulated cognitive deficit.
Your capacity ceiling is where strong output stops…
During capacity measurement, rate output quality at the end of each work block (strong/acceptable/weak) and identify the cumulative hour mark where strong output stops as your effective capacity ceiling for planning purposes.
When one-third of commitments are failing, stop accepting…
When more than one-third of your active commitments are late, incomplete, or lower quality than promised, stop accepting new commitments until the ratio improves to preserve remaining trust accounts.
Increase capacity target by 10% per week only if quality…
When capacity building, increase target output by 10% per week only if quality metrics held steady or improved AND you met target on at least 4 of 5 days in the previous week.
Two weeks without progression = deload 10% — you overshot…
When capacity building fails to meet progression criteria for two consecutive weeks, reduce target by 10% to deload—you have overshot sustainable progression rate and need to consolidate at a lower level.
Measure honest current output over 3 representative days…
When building capacity from a new baseline, measure current honest output over at least three representative days—not best days or aspirational targets—to establish accurate starting point.
Above 0.85 capacity, counter-offer new requests…
When your commitment-to-capacity ratio exceeds 0.85, respond to new requests with explicit counter-offers stating either a later start date or a specific trade-off rather than accepting or declining without alternatives.
Signal capacity proactively with operational language…
Design capacity signals with neutral, operational framing (traffic light status, numerical availability) rather than emotional or complaint-based language, delivering them before requests arrive rather than as request-time justifications.
Map annual capacity month by month — distribute…
Create annual capacity maps rating each month 1-5 based on historical data, then distribute annual commitments proportionally to predicted monthly capacity rather than dividing by twelve uniformly.
When overloaded, ask the requester
When utilization exceeds 85% and a high-stakes request arrives, respond with the trade-off question format: 'If I add this, which of my current commitments should I deprioritize?' directed to the requester with decision authority.
A ratio above 1.0 is mathematical proof of failure — no…
Maintain a commitment-to-capacity ratio below 0.85 to accommodate variance, treating any ratio above 1.0 as mathematical proof that some commitments will fail regardless of willpower or prioritization.
Run systems at 70-85% capacity — full utilization means…
Run operational systems at 70-85% of measured capacity to maintain adaptive buffer, because systems at full utilization cannot absorb environmental change without breaking.
Budget 30 min to 2 hours weekly for system maintenance…
Calculate maintenance budget for entire operational system (30 minutes to 2 hours weekly) as binding constraint; reject additional components when aggregate maintenance would exceed sustainable capacity.
One new stacked commitment per month maximum — overloading…
Stack only one new commitment per month onto existing anchors to prevent chain overload that converts working infrastructure into brittle sequences.
Budget commitments on two dimensions
Track both time cost (hours per week) and cognitive cost (mental bandwidth on 1-5 scale) for each active commitment when budgeting capacity.
Radical simplification to 1-2 priorities is an emergency…
Treat simplification to one or two priorities as an emergency protocol to execute during overwhelm, not as a permanent lifestyle—scale back up to your full three-to-five item stack once capacity recovers.