Analyze reality. Refine the better way. Commit to execution.
An event that skips Analyze is a meeting with a whiteboard.
The board is instrument six in the CHANGE & TRANSFORM register and the working surface of every ARC event. A = Analyze, R = Refine, C = Commit. The order is the discipline: reality first, then the better way, then commitment with an owner and a date.
Each cycle is another push in the same direction. The board exists so the direction never changes between events, and so nothing leaves the room as an intention.
Work the Board
Instrument · ARC Working Board
Analyze reality. Refine the better way. Commit to execution.
A = Analyze, R = Refine, C = Commit. The board runs in that order so an event cannot drift — no option without evidence, no decision without an owner and a date.
Board read
The board is not open yet. Analyze reality before anything is refined.
Value-stream scorecard · Renewal discipline
Publish this read as 0 against a target of 80. Snapshots build the trend view and stay in this browser.
Record at least one board entry before publishing a reading.
Process reality — how the work is really done at the workplace
Stakeholder experience — what the people in it report
Root cause — the condition producing the result
Constraints — capacity, capability, cost, time, technology
Barriers — the ADKAR® factor that is gating adoption
Risk — what could go wrong, and what it would cost
Gap: No analyze entries recorded.
Failure mode: The team arrives with a solution and reverse-engineers the evidence to fit it.
Refine
0 recorded · 0 owned and dated
What is the better way, and what must be true for it to work?
Produces: Future-state options, simplification, assumptions to test, system changes, adoption actions, experiments
Future-state options — at least two, honestly compared
Simplification — what gets removed before anything is added
Assumptions to test — the ones that would break the option
System changes — measures, roles, standards, tooling, cadence
Adoption actions — what makes the new way the rational choice
Experiment — the smallest test that proves it, and by when
Gap: No refine entries recorded.
Failure mode: One option is presented as the only option, and the assumptions are never tested.
Commit
0 recorded · 0 owned and dated
What are we committing to, who owns it, and when is it reviewed?
Produces: Decisions, owners, milestones, resources, measures, escalation triggers, next review
Decision — stated as a decision, not an intention
Owner — one name per decision, never a committee
Milestone — the date the decision is visible in the work
Resource — what is being given up to make it possible
Measure — the number that proves it worked
Escalation trigger — the condition that brings it back early
Next review — the date the board is reopened
Gap: No commit entries recorded.
Failure mode: Actions are recorded without owners or dates, and the event becomes a meeting.
Load the board from a spreadsheet
An ARC event produces its record on walls and paper first. Download the template, capture what is true, the options and the commitments — with owner, due date and status — then load the whole board at once. An entry already on the board is updated on its item text; one that is not is added.
Columns are matched by their header name, so a rearranged spreadsheet still lands correctly. Blank cells are left alone, and nothing already on this instrument is deleted by an import.
This is a management instrument, not legal, audit, or personnel advice. Record processes, decisions and owners by role — never third-party personal data. Entries stay in the browser that created them until you export the board.
Where this leads
Commitments are recorded on the Project Charter, measured on the Adoption & Performance Scorecard, and locked in by the Reinforcement & Institutionalization Plan.
