data.day
scope-creep / process / workflow

Scope Creep Arrives at 17:55: The Calm Process That Saves the Room

It is 5 minutes before close of business. The client dumps 20 new files and asks for them to be included. Don't panic. Triage.

Paolo Pivot Paolo Pivot

The Friday Evening Dump

The “Dump” always happens when you are weakest. You are tired. You want to go home. The client sends a ZIP file. “Just some extra context.”

The temptation is to drag-and-drop it into the 02_Market_Data folder and leave. “I’ll sort it Monday,” you think.

No grazie.

Monday You will hate Friday You. Monday You will arrive to find a folder with duplicate files, outdated versions, and broken naming conventions. The client will log in over the weekend, see the mess, and get confused. “Which market report is the right one?”

The room is a product. You do not push code to production without testing. You do not push files to the Deal Room without triage.

The Friction: The Polluted Index

When you allow unchecked uploads, you destroy the Information Architecture.

  • Duplication: Is this “Q3_Report.pdf” the same as the one we already have?
  • Contradiction: Does this new file contradict our summary slide?
  • Clutter: 15 files with random filenames (scan001.pdf) make the room look amateur.

“Ugly” is a risk factor. A cluttered room looks like a cluttered mind.

The Accelerator: The “Incoming” Quarantine

We handle the 17:55 request with a Calm Process.

  1. The “Incoming” Folder: Every Deal Room has a folder named 99_Incoming_Triage. This is the only place where new, unplanned files go.

  2. The Label: We apply a tag or a prefix: [UNREVIEWED].

    I reply to the client: “Received. I have placed them in the Incoming folder for safety. We will process, rename, and file them into the main structure on Monday morning.”

  3. The Signal: This sends a powerful message. It says: “We are disciplined.” It says: “We do not just throw things in the pile. We curate.”

The client respects this. They see that you value the integrity of the data more than the speed of the upload. You protected the room. You acknowledged the receipt. You kept the sign-off track clear.

Take the files. But do not let them break your system. Triage is the mark of a pro. Assolutamente.

FAQs

Why not just upload them? It takes 2 seconds.

Uploading is fast. Verifying is slow. If you upload unverified junk, you pollute the room.

What is a Triage Folder?

It is a quarantine zone. Files go there to sit until a human reviews them. They do not touch the 'Gold Copy' folders.

Does the client see the Triage folder?

Yes. It shows we are responsive but rigorous. 'We received it, we are reviewing it.'