Blockers get raised at department heads so the whole company hears them

October 16, 2026 at 3:03 PMoperationalmedium

Situation

When Nathan reported 10.2 Hardened compliance work slipping because the engineer doing it is on jury duty, Peter set the expectation that blockers like this come up at department heads, raised exactly the way Nathan raised it to him, so the whole company hears it.

Reasoning

A blocker known only to the CTO cannot change anyone else plans while Sales, Product and Marketing commit against those dates. Consistent with the 10/1 call that dates show reality even at low confidence - visibility over the CTO absorbing bad news privately. Nathan plain cause-and-impact framing was the model.

Additional Context

Confirmed by Peter as stated.

Observed Evidence

Fathom 10/13 00:15:55.

Matching Patterns

35%

Measure, Commit Publicly, Then Execute(make delivery reality visible)

Confidence Breakdown

33/35

Evidence

15/30

Pattern

19/20

Source

5/15

Corroboration

Reasoning Depth Analysis

Org Signal:Department heads is where engineering risk surfaces

Who Affected:Other engineering leads; go-to-market teams planning against dates

Precedent:Risk is raised publicly, not privately to the CTO

Consequences:Leads owe blockers in a public forum

Timing:10.2 Hardened compliance at risk for 10/30

People Involved

Nathan Blackham

Source

reflection

AI Confidence

72%

Related Context

🎥

Nathan <> Peter 1:1 10/13

fathom

I want things like this coming up at department heads. Just raise it so the whole company hears it exactly the way you just did.

Outcome

No outcome recorded yet.

Decision ID: 993befd2-5438-44bb-8407-bd2ec4523674