01Jul 4, 2026/10 minCookie Licking: Claiming Work Without Doing ItClaiming a piece of work or territory so nobody else can take it — without actually doing it. The claim destroys value for others without…thinking principlesorganizationspolitics
02Jul 3, 2026/5 minEscalation Is a Service, Not a BetrayalEscalation is a routing mechanism: it moves a decision to the smallest scope that has the authority and context to make it. Refusing to…thinking principlesorganizationscareer
03Jul 2, 2026/4 minName the ThingOrganizations can only discuss what they can name — and the person who coins the name owns the concept everywhere it travels. You've seen…thinking principlesorganizationscommunication
04Jul 1, 2026/4 minNever Surprise Anyone PubliclyRaising someone's problem in public without warning them first converts a solvable engineering problem into a status attack — and the fix is…thinking principlesorganizationspolitics
05Jun 30, 2026/4 minRe-org SurvivalEngineers experience re-orgs as weather. Operators recognize them as the one window when the org's scope map is unlocked for editing — and…thinking principlesorganizationspolitics