Finding on Revenue Goal Poster
The poster has been on the wall for eight months. The goal was reached in April. The poster remains.
Finding on Revenue Goal Poster: Continued Display Following Goal Resolution
Filed in response to the poster's ongoing presence in the main workspace
Section 1: The Finding
The poster was installed in December. It displays a revenue figure in a large, motivational font. The figure is surrounded by graphic elements consistent with aspiration: an upward arrow, a color gradient moving from a cool tone at the base to a warm tone at the apex, and a tagline that the investigator has declined to reproduce here on the grounds that doing so would constitute engagement with the tagline.
The goal represented by the figure was reached in April. The poster was not removed in April. The poster was not removed in May, June, or July. The poster is present in August and is currently visible from three separate workstations.
The poster does not update automatically. It will continue to display the original goal regardless of whether that goal has been exceeded, abandoned, or quietly revised.
Section 2: Observable Consequences
The first consequence is historical. New employees who joined after April have received the poster as ambient context. They have not been informed that the figure displayed is a former goal rather than a current one. Several have asked questions. The answers to those questions have varied depending on who was available.
The second consequence is motivational, in reverse. The poster was installed to produce a feeling of directed momentum toward an unreached target. The target has been reached. The poster now produces a different feeling, which no one has named directly but which several people have described, in separate conversations, using the phrase "kind of weird."
The third consequence is spatial. The wall where the poster hangs was, before December, occupied by a different poster. That poster was removed to make room. The previous poster's subject has not been identified. Its location is unknown.
Section 3: The Absurd Rule
The question of who is responsible for removing a motivation artifact once motivation has been achieved is not answered anywhere in the available documentation. The person who installed the poster no longer works at the organization. The person who approved the poster's installation has confirmed that approval was granted but has indicated that removal falls outside their current scope.
The poster is, under these conditions, self-perpetuating. It will remain until someone with both the authority and the ladder decides that its removal is worth scheduling.
Section 4: The Contradiction
A new revenue goal has been set for the current fiscal year. The new goal is higher than the goal on the poster. There is no poster for the new goal. The organization has discussed making one. The discussion occurred in a meeting. The meeting produced no assigned owner for the poster. The old poster remains.
Both posters cannot hang on the same wall. No one has said this aloud. Everyone understands it.