Pick the answer that's nearest the truth.

Yes — I could point at it. The state lives in the artefacts. Mostly — one or two would need a quick check. Some I could; others I'd need to message someone. I'd need a few minutes per item to reconstruct it. Honestly, I'd need meetings to figure it out.

Almost always — bad news arrives early, not as a surprise. Usually — the occasional late surprise. Mixed — early sometimes, late other times. Often we find out when there's little room to act. Surprises at the deadline are the norm.

Yes — "on it" means there's an owner, a step, and a date behind it. Usually — most of the time it stands up to a "what's next, by when?" Sometimes — it depends who's saying it. Often "on it" is shorthand for "no one has touched it yet". Rarely — "on it" mostly means it has an audience, not an owner.

Yes — the state is observable, not claimed. Mostly — most things are visible; one or two live in heads. Patchy — some areas are visible, others tribal. A lot of state lives in people's heads or chat threads. If a key person is off, we lose the picture.

Almost always — every important item has one named owner. Usually — most do, a few slip through. Sometimes — depends on the project or phase. Rarely — ownership is fuzzy or shared between people. Almost never — work moves by default until someone notices.

Almost always — by-Thursday-3pm specific. Usually — most do; a few drift. Sometimes — dates appear when the deadline gets close. Rarely — most "next steps" are intentions floating in time. Almost never — dates aren't really how we work.

Always — decisions are scheduled events with a person attached. Usually — most decisions have a "by when". Sometimes — for the bigger ones, not the routine ones. Rarely — decisions sit in discussion until they bite us. Almost never — decisions move at the speed of the next meeting.

Almost always — fallback is part of the plan. Usually — for the higher-risk items. Sometimes — depends how senior the work is. Rarely — we tend to deal with it when it breaks. Almost never — plan A is the only plan.

Almost always — the team proposes, with the trade-offs named. Usually — most of the time; permission-asking is the exception. Sometimes — depends on the person and the topic. Rarely — most things wait for explicit permission. Almost never — work waits for me (or someone) to direct it.

Almost always — owners drive their items between meetings. Usually — the active owners do; one or two need a nudge. Sometimes — depends on the urgency and who owns it. Often things sit until someone asks about them. Almost never — items sit as "awaiting response" for cycles.

Yes — context lives in the artefact, not in the owner's head. Mostly — for most items, with a brief handover. Some items yes, some no — patchy. Most things would need the owner to fully re-explain. If the owner is off, the work stops.

Almost always — closure is part of "done". Usually — for the bigger pieces. Sometimes — when someone remembers to ask. Rarely — most things just stop being talked about. Almost never — we move to the next thing and forget.

Almost always — the reader knows more after reading them. Usually — most updates land that way. Sometimes — depends who wrote it. Rarely — most read like activity logs. Almost never — updates are mostly "what we've been doing".

Almost always — recommendation is the default ending. Usually — most updates land with a recommendation. Sometimes — for the bigger calls only. Rarely — most updates leave the decision back with the reader. Almost never — recommendations are seen as overstepping.

Almost always — updates are decision-shaped. Usually — most are; a few need clarifying questions. Sometimes — depends on the update and the reader. Rarely — most updates leave more questions than answers. Almost never — every update triggers another conversation.

Almost always — bad news early is the norm here. Usually — the occasional late surprise. Sometimes — depends on the relationship and the topic. Often — bad news arrives later than it should. Almost always — silence upward, then a fire.

Yes — I could write them down right now. Mostly — I'd need a minute to land the wording. Some pieces, not all — they're implicit. I'd struggle — we've never made them explicit. No — pillars aren't how we think about the work.

Yes — green tasks don't fool us about a red outcome. Mostly — we catch outcome-red before it becomes a surprise. Sometimes — we notice it for the bigger pieces. Rarely — busy activity often gets read as progress. Never — we report on tasks moving, not on the outcome.

Always — change-of-shape triggers a commercial check. Usually — for the bigger changes. Sometimes — only when it's already obvious. Rarely — scope creeps in as small reasonable decisions. Almost never — we discover the commercial hit late.

Almost always — we shape stakeholder decisions, we don't just wait. Usually — for the senior decisions. Sometimes — depends on the stakeholder. Rarely — we wait on stakeholders more than we steer them. Almost never — projects move at the speed of stakeholder mood.

Almost always — repeated pain triggers a mechanism, not a pep talk. Usually — for the painful patterns. Sometimes — when someone champions it. Rarely — "be more careful" is the usual fix. Almost never — we rescue, we don't solve.

Yes — we fix the shape of the system, not the person. Mostly — most reviews land that way. Sometimes — depends on who's in the room. Rarely — reviews tend to default to "who dropped this?". We don't really do reviews — things just move on.

Yes — near-misses are treated as system signals. Usually — for the close ones. Sometimes — when someone flags it. Rarely — if we caught it, we move on. Almost never — only actual failures get talked about.

Yes — improvements are owned and inspected. Usually — most stick; a couple decay. Sometimes — we're better at the launch than the upkeep. Rarely — improvements decay quietly. Almost never — fixes don't survive the next quarter.