BRIEFING / WEEK 11
When the Plan Breaks
Identify dependencies invalidated by disruption, retain supported decisions and rehearse a revision without overwriting the original.
Read, then try it
This briefing explains the week's idea and shows a worked example. Read the objectives and example, then open the lab for the actual controls, three practice configurations and saved fieldwork record.
The week’s question: An agreed plan loses a dependency. Decide what must change, what remains valid and whether the objective is still defensible.
The plan was sensible when you wrote it. The station has changed.
What you will learn
- Classify earlier decisions as retained, requiring retest or invalidated.
- Compare a minimal revision with an alternative and explain objective changes.
- Rehearse a replacement, assign responsibility and preserve Version 1.
The briefing
Plans contain conditional promises
“Use the east passage” assumes it is available and suitable. Make such conditions explicit. A dependency connects a required finding or resource to a later action. Follow that link when conditions change instead of immediately rewriting the whole plan.
Classify earlier decisions as retained, requiring retest or invalidated. A passage closure does not automatically invalidate a source comparison. An amended source can invalidate a load calculation even when the passage stays open. Follow the reason rather than the step’s position in a list.
Preserve history and choose a response
Version 1 records what made sense under its own evidence. Keep it intact. Version 2 identifies new evidence, affected decisions, retained decisions, replacement checks, owners and acknowledgement. Compare a minimal revision with a more substantial alternative.
Supplied readings can support planning when a meter is unavailable, but they are not your personal measurements. Record their provenance and verification limits. If those limits defeat a required assurance, defer the action or change the objective.
Rehearse and coordinate
Test the replacement before committing. Name the observation that would stop the action. Obtain read-back from whoever receives changed responsibility; a plan in one notebook is not yet shared.
The browser checks the published replacement condition and preserves versions. A facilitator judges the explanation linking choice to evidence. Prose length and a successful animation cannot establish that reasoning.
Worked example · a different scenario
The separate dispatch example loses its old release authority while its routes and equipment remain available. Its signed identity finding remains useful. Version 2 inserts a recipient-scope check by the investigator and replacement-authorisation recording by the coordinator before sealing, then retains dispatch and receipt. Appending those checks after dispatch would not repair the failed prerequisite. Both plans remain visible, and an acknowledged future plan is not presented as an already completed handover.
Watch this separate example and inspect its finished record.
A plausible mistake
Overwriting the original plan makes the revision impossible to assess. Calling any new action ‘improvisation’ also evades the question of whether it meets the original objective. Preserve the earlier state and identify whether the objective itself has changed.
Supplied rule sheet
Where to find the named materials: These labels identify the supplied material on this page and in the combined campus pack; they are not separate files you need to locate. IM-01 is the four-step baseline recovery plan. IM-02 supplies the east-passage disruption and the transfer case with an unavailable meter and labelled reference readings. Keep separate plan versions.
- Baseline plan: Inspect manifest → Restore relay → Use east passage → Record handover.
- The initial plan is preserved as an immutable original in the activity.
- Practice/check disruption: east passage unavailable; west passage open but requires an additional relay check.
- Transfer disruption: the meter is unavailable. Supplied reference readings for battery/fuse/cable/lamp are 6/6/0/0 V; document their provenance and limits.
- Create a revised plan and rationale naming the failed dependency, replacement action, verification and responsibility.
- The activity prompts reflection; it does not assign a grade to the quality of open-ended reasoning.
Before the lab
Bring one earlier diagnostic record and one communication record (15 minutes). Read IM-01 and write a baseline plan before opening IM-02 (15 minutes). Direct entrants may use the labelled sample.
What happens next
The final project needs a reasoned change between contrasting rehearsals. Explain why its chosen objective remains feasible or why the team deliberately revises it.
Keep revised-plan from this week’s lab. Download the campus pack.
SLOP UNIVERSITY · THE ACADEMY OF IMPOSSIBLE SKILLS
An original fictional course. Progress records practice, not academic certification.