Minutes Concerning Paper Stack Preparation
A well-arranged document stack was treated as evidence of readiness. The documents remained unread.
MEETING MINUTES
Body: Internal Review Committee on Work-Adjacent Behaviors Session: Unscheduled , convened in response to submitted observation Location: Home desk, secondary surface Attendees: One subject, one stack of documents
Agenda
- Review of paper stack preparation behavior
- Assessment of its relationship to the work the papers represent
- Determination of next steps
Discussion
The committee opened by noting that the session had been delayed approximately twelve minutes. The delay was caused by the need to arrange the documents into a manageable stack before the meeting could reasonably begin.
The subject had received a set of documents requiring review. Prior to reading any of them, the subject collected them from three locations where they had been placed since arrival, aligned their edges, and placed them face-down on a flat surface. The stack was then turned face-up. The top document was considered. The stack was squared again. The subject then went to get water.
The committee acknowledged that the stack, at the time the subject returned, was notably neater than when the documents had arrived.
Item 1 was tabled pending completion of Item 3.
Contributing Factors
A small workaround was created for paper stack preparation. The workaround is a second check, performed before reading begins, to confirm the stack is in a state suitable for reading. The check involves pressing down lightly on the top document and assessing whether it lies flat. It does not assess whether the document is relevant, urgent, or overdue.
The workaround produced a second check designed to confirm the first one worked. The second check is a look from above at a slight angle, which allows the subject to assess whether the stack edge is flush. It is.
Finding
Progress is being measured through activity even when the activity carefully avoids the actual deliverable. Paper stack preparation creates a legible record of engagement with the documents without creating engagement with the documents. The stack looks like work. It is the room where work might later happen.
The ordinary action now has a parallel administrative system. The system requires three checks before the first document is opened. The checks have names, in the sense that the subject could describe them if asked. They do not have official names, in the sense that no one has asked.
Actions
- Item 3 remains open. The committee will reconvene after the documents are read.
- Paper stack preparation may continue indefinitely once everyone knows how to work around it.
- No date set.
Minutes recorded by the only party present.