Chapter 1 · Appendix A

TOOL-1

Write the first useful note

Answer five questions first. Unknown is a valid answer: name who will resolve it and by when.

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Layer 1: the first pass

1. What is being requested in the original words
2. What should improve and who owns it
3. What is already happening
4. What needs an immediate boundary
5. What is the next decision by whom and when
Add supporting detail when needed

Add only the supporting detail this demand needs.

Why now? Record deadlines, promises, supplier influence and the source of each reported pressure.

What should change, for whom? Name the owner, current measure, source, measurement period and unknowns.

Identify users, customers, indirect effects and people who may struggle to raise concerns. Record how their evidence will be obtained and its limits.

Which complaints, reversals and service records inform the decision? Who corrects live records, receives concerns and can pause the work?

Who tests the evidence? Record conflicts, relevant expertise and any specialist review required by the consequence, information or obligations.

For each restriction record its reason, supporting evidence, owner, enforcer, exception requester, approver, review date and lifting conditions. Separate delegated boundary changes from new spending or experiment authority.

Record each claim, status, source, checker, check date, scope and remaining limits. Reports and assumptions remain labelled. Attach the source or a controlled link; do not copy sensitive material into an unrestricted note.

State decline, contain and clarify, or bounded diagnosis. Preserve containment on any route with existing exposure. Record decision maker, rationale, scope, effort and spending ceilings, dissent, dates and evidence required next.