Concepts
The irreducible epistemic atoms underlying the curriculum. 4,828 atoms across 8 types
If an approval step changed nothing in 20 instances…
When approval steps in a process have produced zero changes in the last twenty instances, eliminate the approval gate as pure waste regardless of its historical rationale.
Same constraint for three weeks straight = structural…
When the same operational constraint appears in three consecutive weekly reviews, treat it as a structural issue requiring architectural change rather than tactical adjustment, escalating it from the weekly action item to a dedicated project.
Run simplified systems for two full cycles before…
Validate simplified systems by running them for at least two full cycles before declaring success, as one cycle cannot distinguish between successful simplification and lucky conditions.
When debt grows despite repayment, simplify the system…
When a system's operational debt register grows despite consistent repayment, shift from maintenance to simplification rather than increasing maintenance effort.
After every operational failure, run five blameless…
After any operational failure, write a blameless post-mortem using five questions: what happened (factual description), what was the timeline of contributing events, what were the systemic factors, what are the action items (specific system changes), and what would have prevented this.
One hypothesis-driven improvement per week — state…
Run one complete PDCA improvement iteration per week on a single operational system: state a hypothesis predicting how a specific change will improve a specific measurable outcome by an estimated amount, implement for one cycle, measure the result, then adopt, adjust, or abandon based on whether the prediction held.
Priority labels without response protocols are decoration…
Attach specific response protocols (timing, resources, escalation) to each priority type rather than treating them as descriptive labels, making priority actionable.