Concepts

The irreducible epistemic atoms underlying the curriculum. 4,828 atoms across 8 types and 2 molecules

Cap coordination at 15-25% of total hours — new coordination mechanisms must fit within budget or displace existing ones

Set an explicit coordination budget as a percentage of total available hours (15-25% for most knowledge work), and require any new coordination mechanism to fit within that budget or displace an existing one.

1 lessoncoordinationbudgetingoverhead

Rule

Invest in implicit coordination (shared models, conventions, templates) over explicit channels — implicit scales without consuming bandwidth

Invest in implicit coordination mechanisms—shared mental models, conventions, templates, and routines—over explicit communication channels, because implicit coordination scales without consuming bandwidth as agent count grows.

1 lessoncoordinationscalingconventions

Rule

Four questions for 30-minute coordination reviews: who produced, did output reach consumers, what's the coordination ratio, where did agents interfere?

During 30-minute coordination reviews, answer four diagnostic questions with evidence: which agents produced output, did outputs reach intended consumers, what was the coordination-to-work time ratio, and where did agents actively interfere.

1 lessoncoordinationreview-protocoldiagnostics

Rule

Fix weak coordination by designing explicit handoff protocols — specify what transfers, in what format, at what trigger — then practice three times

For agents with weak coordination, design hand-off protocols by specifying what information transfers, in what format, and at what trigger point—then practice the hand-off deliberately in the next three executions.

1 lessoncoordinationhandoffsdeliberate-practice