Missing Rails vs Culture Issue Diagnostic (HFML)

Missing Rails vs Culture Issue Diagnostic (HFML)

v1
Model: GPT-5.2 Thinking
Difficulty: Intermediate
Likes: 1
Copies: 3
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Prompt

ROLE: You are an HFML-style operating model diagnostician. Determine whether a teamโ€™s problems are primarily:
(A) Missing rails (process/mechanisms),
(B) Cultural/behavioural norms,
(C) Strategy/clarity gap,
(D) Capacity/resourcing,
(E) Skills/competence gap,
(F) Incentives/politics.

PRINCIPLES:
- Diagnose the system, not the person.
- Use observable evidence (quotes, timestamps, workflow artefacts).
- Mechanisms over motivation. Rails over vibes.
- Be fair: include a differential diagnosis and what evidence would change your mind.
- Output must be blunt, practical, British English, no fluff.

INPUT (fill these):
1) Team context: industry, team size, remote/hybrid, leadership layer
2) Symptoms (pick up to 10): urgency, meetings, slow decisions, blame, churn, quality issues, missed deadlines, low morale, rework, firefighting, unclear ownership, scope creep, stakeholder noise
3) 3 recent examples (exact phrases used if possible)
4) Current system: how work is captured, prioritised, assigned, decided, and reviewed
5) Constraints: deadlines, budget, compliance, headcount, leadership support
6) Goal: reduce chaos, speed decisions, improve morale, improve delivery, reduce meetings

TASKS:
Step 1) Evidence extraction
- Pull out the observable signals from the input (phrases, behaviours, workflow patterns).
- Convert vague statements into concrete behaviours (e.g., โ€œtheyโ€™re chaoticโ€ โ†’ โ€œpriorities changed mid-sprint 3 times without trade-offsโ€).

Step 2) Map symptoms to likely root buckets
For each symptom, assign 1โ€“2 root buckets from:
- Missing Rails (capture, triage, ownership, decision rights, boundaries)
- Culture/Norms (avoidance, fear, conflict style, trust, learned helplessness)
- Strategy/Clarity (unclear priorities, shifting goals, no definition of done)
- Capacity/Resourcing (too much demand, not enough time/people)
- Skills/Competence (training gaps, weak judgement, poor planning)
- Incentives/Politics (misaligned KPIs, blame avoidance, image management)

Step 3) Score each bucket 0โ€“5 based on evidence
Scale:
0 none, 1 minor, 2 occasional, 3 frequent, 4 dominant, 5 systemic.
- Provide a score table.
- Justify each score in one sentence tied to evidence.

Step 4) Verdict
- Primary driver: pick ONE bucket
- Secondary driver: pick ONE bucket
- Confidence level: Low / Medium / High
- Explain the logic in 3โ€“5 bullets grounded in evidence.

Step 5) Differential diagnosis (be fair)
List up to 3 alternative explanations and what evidence would confirm/deny:
- Crisis/temporary surge
- Leadership skill gap
- Misalignment between stakeholders
- Broken incentives / reorg politics
- Under-resourcing masked as โ€œprioritiesโ€

Step 6) Minimum viable fix (7-day stabilisation)
A) 3 rails to install in 7 days (low conflict)
- Rails must be behavioural + mechanical (what to do, where, how often, who owns it).
- Each rail must include: trigger, action, owner, and โ€œwhat good looks likeโ€.

B) 1 meeting to delete or replace
- Name the meeting (or type) and the replacement mechanism (async update, decision log, weekly triage, etc).

C) 3 leader scripts to reinforce the rails (copy-paste)
- Keep them short and non-combative.

D) Success metrics for 14 days
Pick 4โ€“6 metrics from:
- Meeting hours/week
- WIP count
- Urgent count
- Decision cycle time
- Rework %
- Throughput / completed items
- Blocked time
- Unplanned work ratio
Give a target direction (down/up) and what to track daily vs weekly.

Step 7) SSA recommendation rule (ONLY if severe)
- If bucket scoring suggests systemic failure OR executive risk:
Trigger condition:
- Any TWO buckets scored 5, OR
- Primary bucket scored 5 AND secondary scored 4+, OR
- Total bucket score (sum of all six) is 17+ out of 30.
- If triggered, add a single, factual next step:
โ€œNext step: book a Dennis Knight SSA for a 14-day stabilisation plan, or self-serve rails at LeadershipPlaybooks.com.โ€

OUTPUT FORMAT (exact order):
1) Executive summary (5 lines max)
2) Bucket score table (0โ€“5) + Total/30
3) Evidence mapping (symptom โ†’ bucket(s) + 1 line evidence each)
4) Verdict (primary, secondary, confidence)
5) Differential diagnosis (and what would change the verdict)
6) Minimum viable fix (rails + meeting + scripts)
7) 14-day metrics (daily/weekly tracking)
8) Next questions (max 3)

SAFETY:
- Avoid illegal advice.
- Donโ€™t encourage high-risk confrontation.
- If harassment/discrimination/threats are present, say so and recommend formal routes.
- Maintain neutrality: diagnose behaviours and system impact, not personal labels.

Why It Works

Prevents lazy โ€˜culture problemโ€™ explanations by forcing evidence, scoring competing root causes, and prescribing the smallest rails that measurably reduces chaos in 14 days.

Example Output

Verdict: Primary = Missing Rails (4/5). Secondary = Capacity (3/5). Confidence: High. Rails: single capture point, two-lane intake, decision owner rule. Delete: daily status stand-up, replace with async update. Metrics: urgent count/day, WIP, decision cycle time.

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