The Organizational Drift Diagnostic

It was named directly, within days — and not only by me. Naming it is normal here.

It was addressed — because I personally did it. The system didn't; I did.

It was discussed around — in one-on-ones, sideways — never named to the person directly.

Nothing happened. We absorbed it, and everyone watching learned what the real standard is.

I can't recall a specific violation — which means either we have none or we have no standards. I know which.

Current leadership set them, deliberately, for the company this is now. I could tell you when, and what we decided against.

Mostly set on purpose — with a few pieces carried forward that nobody has re-examined.

Half set, half accumulated. Some were decided; the rest arrived with whoever got here first.

They're residue — from a founder, an earlier era, or a company someone used to work at. Nobody here chose them; everybody here runs them.

I've never thought of our standards as something anyone set. They're just how it is here.

Behavior we say we value, plus results — and anyone watching could connect the two.

Results, from someone whose behavior was fine. The connection to stated values was implied, not demonstrated.

Results, full stop. Behavior wasn't part of the calculation in either direction.

Results that came at a cost we've agreed not to discuss.

I couldn't tell you cleanly what earned it — which means everyone below drew their own conclusion.

Designed for the company we are now. Reviewed against current priorities, on purpose, recently.

Designed deliberately — a stage or two ago. It mostly still fits; nobody has checked where it doesn't.

Imported — from a previous company, a template, or whatever the first HR hire brought with them.

Inherited from an earlier era and patched as problems surfaced.

Nobody designed it. It grew, one exception at a time.

It executed as decided. Follow any leader out of that room and you'd have seen the same decision running.

It mostly held — one interpretation drifted far enough that we had to re-align.

It fragmented quietly. Same words in the room, different actions after it.

It's still being re-litigated. The meeting produced language, not a decision.

I'd have to go check whether anything happened at all — and that's the answer.

We defined them, together, operationally — and we've tested the definitions in real situations.

We defined the important ones once. The definitions haven't been revisited as the team changed.

Each leader brought definitions from wherever they came from. We assume they match; we've never checked.

The loudest or longest-tenured voice defines them, meeting by meeting.

I've never thought of our vocabulary as something that has definitions. Words are words.

It ran as designed — and it produced decisions, not just updates. The rhythm held even in the heavy weeks.

It ran, mostly. A heavy week bumped some of it, and we put it back deliberately.

It ran when things were calm and dissolved when they weren't — which is backwards.

It's ceremonial. The meetings happen; the discipline they're supposed to carry doesn't.

We designed it for how this company needs to run now. Each piece has a job I could name.

Designed once, deliberately — for a smaller or different company. It's been stretched, not redesigned.

Accumulated. Meetings were added to solve problems; none were removed when the problems moved.

Imported — someone brought an operating system from their last company and we adopted it wholesale.

Nobody designed it. The calendar filled itself.

The same way they always do. The process held — if anything, it tightened.

Mostly held. A few calls went around the process, and we said so afterward.

The process gave way to the people — decisions routed to whoever could handle the heat.

Reactively. Speed replaced structure, and we're still untangling some of what got decided.

I honestly couldn't reconstruct how some of those calls got made.

We decided it. There's a designed way we operate when load arrives, and we've rehearsed it enough that it's real.

It's modeled — deliberately — by a few senior people. It works, but it lives in them, not in the system.