Daily Reflection
Wednesday, January 14, 2026
3
Decisions
85%
Avg Confidence
high
Avg Importance
Summary
Three decisions captured from LA Onsite planning day: (1) NARF Project Milestones - requested structured milestones for board visibility on CVE automation progress. (2) COGS Visibility - committed to escalate finance data access for Ryan's Intelligence Hub via Bjorn's mandate. (3) Strategic Map Framework - established new H1 planning structure separating value drivers from internal efficiency, with phased estimation to protect engineers from premature commitments.
Wins
LA Onsite produced clear H1 framework with buy-in from engineering and GTM. Strategic map now has coherent structure (value drivers, GTM, engineering lanes). Ryan's COGS tracking work has clear path forward with Bjorn escalation.
Challenges
Board meeting Tuesday requires crisp NARF milestone story that does not yet exist. RPM Testing Automation confidence dropped dramatically (50% → 10%) - unknown blocker. Balancing engineering protection from premature dates with leadership's need for timeline visibility.
Learnings
Phased estimation (ballpark first, then engineering session to raise confidence) addresses the scar tissue problem without leaving leadership in the dark. Separating internal efficiency from customer value clarifies what GTM can talk about.
What I Learned About Your Decision-Making
You design frameworks that protect engineers from political exposure while still giving leadership what they need — the phased estimation model explicitly addresses scar tissue from past date-pressure. You route around institutional blockers by leveraging existing mandates: Bjorn already prioritized COGS, so escalation through him is not political escalation but logical follow-through. You separate narratives by audience: internal efficiency vs customer value gets different framing for board vs engineering vs GTM, rather than forcing a single story to serve all audiences.
Team Status
View TPS ReportRPM Testing Automation confidence dropped sharply from 50% to 10% - significant blocker discovered. FIPS 140-3 for Rocky 9.6 on track (93% confidence, Jan 16 target). Fuzzball provisioners (PBS, Slurm) remain high confidence (95%) for Jan 16. RLC Rearchitecture still BLOCKED. Security Chatbot dropped from Engineering Ops top priorities, replaced by HR Onboarding Automation.
Tomorrow's Focus
Completing H1 planning at LA onsite - finalize strategic map, dry run with department heads, lock down engineering deliverables and timelines
Decisions Made
Reflection ID: ea76352f-7033-44a7-94f2-8b7d5d4334ff