A story track · bring data to play it
Recurring board / exec people update
The Health Check
The recurring people update that reports steady states as findings and moves the meeting to what's moving. This is the track — the ordered card-slots this story needs, laid out as a hypothesis before any data exists. Bring data and the engine confirms each slot, or hands the story off down a branch.
the story · before any data
the hero
An executive team that runs on truth, not vibes — wants the real state of the workforce in ten minutes, every period.
the villain
The fog — dashboards that bury the two things that matter under forty that don't
the problem, felt at three levels
- External · Every period produces movement somewhere; nobody can say which movement deserves the meeting.
- Internal · The nagging doubt of never being sure whether silence means stable or unexamined.
- Philosophical · A leadership team shouldn't have to choose between drowning in charts and flying blind.
the plan
- 1Open with the kept watch (what's stable, proven)
- 2Rank what's moving by consequence, with addresses
- 3Close with this period's decisions, each with an owner
if nothing changes
Without it: the loudest chart wins, steady states get re-litigated, and real movers surface two quarters late.
success
Ten minutes, the true state, the period's decisions made.
From a team that reviews dashboards — to one that runs a watch.
the screenplay · the sequence of scenes it needs
Act I — The World
the kept watchTHE REASSURANCE
baseline
Headcount + composition: stable?
fills with
the handle · Report stability as a finding.
Act II — The Forces
top movers by consequence— BUT —
THE ALARM
auto-filled by consequence ranking
What's moving most, by consequence?
fills with
a computed step (calculator / decision) — not a single card
or any card of form: rising · falling · stage_leak · share_rising · share_falling
the handle · One owner per mover.
— AND —
THE HIDDEN SPLIT
the address, when one exists
Where is it concentrated?
fills with
a computed step (calculator / decision) — not a single card
or any card of form: one_apart_high · one_apart_low · two_tier
the handle · Local before global.
Act III — The Choice
asks + close— SO —
THE BET
the period's decision list
What do we fund/decide this period?
fills with
a computed step (calculator / decision) — not a single card
the handle · Decisions, not impressions.
the resolution · what this story exists to produce
The period's decision list, each with an owner — and 'nothing requires action' stated proudly when true.
What next? What else?
More certainty is priced, not promised — the next steps, each a known cost against the decision:
- ↗ segment drills on the movers
- ↗ benchmark feed for position context
- ↗ survey wave if sentiment is the gap
what it needs to be told
told differently by altitude
exec · manager · analyst variants forthcoming
provenance · Avid 2025 People Data Update + Childrens 2012 Facts deck (replayed); Board Pack v0 = its flat draft
The driving question: What's the true state of the workforce — and what deserves attention this period?
One story from the database — assembled from the shared deck of scenes. Browse the stories · browse the deck · bring your own data.