Track 10 · Discovery & handoverLesson 11 of 12
Rhythm, writing and people on site
Run the weekly cadence, write the memo that gets a decision, and map who can stop you.
- The FDE path · Stage 6 of 6
- 35 min read
- 75 min hands-on
- Pro
What you'll be able to do
01- Run an engagement's cadence: say what the daily check-in, the weekly readout, the steering committee and the change board each decide, and what you bring to each.
- Write a status note whose colour follows rules agreed in advance, with evidence for every number and the decisions you need at the top.
- Write a one-page decision memo with the answer first, real options with trade-offs, and an ask with a name and a date; and an executive incident note that says what is known and when the next update comes.
- Say no in writing so the relationship survives: not this, here is what we'll do instead, and what would change the answer.
- Map who can help, block or stop the work, keep the map current, and plan the first week after your champion leaves.
- Escalate without burning bridges, and keep the decision and action logs that make the rest possible.
Before you start
- Finding the real requirement: the four stakeholder roles (sponsor, users, approvers, blockers). This lesson keeps that map alive for the rest of the engagement.
- Delivering through an SI: RAID logs, governance forums, RACI and the three escalation lanes. Here, the writing that goes into them.
- Incidents, on-call and runbooks: the runbook and severity matrix. Here, the note an executive reads.
- Some Python. The worked example is a small program; the exercise is mostly writing.
Starting here? On the core path this lesson comes late in stage 6, once you have something live. Two words used below: a RAID log lists risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies, each with an owner and a date (Delivering through an SI); a steering committee is the monthly meeting of the people who can change scope, budget and dates.
The short version
An FDE's technical work only lands if the customer decides things on time: who owns a risk, whether to move a date, what to cut. Decisions happen in a small set of recurring meetings and through a small set of documents. Run the cadence deliberately: a daily check-in on the floor, a weekly readout for the sponsor, a monthly steering committee, the change board. Write for each one: a status note whose red, amber or green follows written rules, a decision memo with the answer first and the ask last, an incident note that never guesses at cause, and a "not this, instead" email when you must refuse. Keep a stakeholder map and a decision log current, and treat trust as a ledger: every surprise is a withdrawal, every early warning a deposit.
- Every document ends in an ask: who decides what, by when.
- Colour follows rules, not mood. Agree the RAG rules in week one, and the colour stops being a negotiation.
- Answer first. A busy reader should get the recommendation in the first two lines.
- No numbers without a source. If it can't be checked, it doesn't go in front of a sponsor.
- Bad news early, privately, with a proposal. Never let your sponsor be surprised in a steering committee.
Pro lesson
The rest of this lesson is in Pro.
The mental model, worked example, field note, failure table, exercise and self-check, with the voice tutor.
Pro opens this stage
Stage 6 · Ship, run and hand over- 8 lessons, with the voice tutor
- Lab · Check a trace export before you trust the dashboard, graded here
- Halden week 7 · The champion moves
- Halden week 8 · The portal goes down before cut-off
- Halden week 9 · Prices up, and a new rule
- Halden week 10 · A second site, and handover
- The lab kit, to run Halden weeks on your machine
Also in Pro
- Every stage and specialisation, in full
- Every lab and every role project
- Halden weeks 2–10, on your record
- Every drill, live in the playground
- All solutions, plus the server judge
- Lab Assistant and every Teach with AI