Case file

This is the intake for a written second opinion on one working relationship that keeps failing the same way. It takes about 15 minutes. I read every one and reply within two business days with either an acceptance and a payment link, or a decline with the reason.

Scope is one situation, one other person, your side only. I do not contact, meet, assess, or advise the other person, and I do not collect anything about them beyond what you saw and heard yourself. Answer about what was said and done, not about what you think it meant. The interpretation is my job.

Before you write.

Use a label, not a name. Call the other person whatever is easiest to keep track of — "my co-founder," "the VP," "Person A." Same for anyone else who appears. I do not want their name and I will not keep it.

Leave out anything about health, beliefs, politics, union membership, sexual orientation or ethnicity — theirs or yours. None of it is needed for this and none of it should be in the file.

What I do want is what was said and done, when, and how often. That is the whole basis of the read.

1. Who is the other person, and what do they do that keeps happening?

What do you want to call them?

A label, not their name. "My co-founder," "the VP," "Person A" whatever you will use consistently.

What do they do that keeps happening?

One thing that could be seen or heard. What they do, not what kind of person they are.

2. Walk me through the last three times it happened. Roughly when each one was, what they said or did, and what you said or did, in the order it occurred.

Rough dates are fine, and "the week before Easter" is fine. What I cannot use is "constantly" or "every time", because those tell me how it feels, not how often it happens, and I need how often. If it happened more than once inside a single occasion, count the occasion once and tell me separately how many times within it.

Then, separately: how many times has this happened in total, and over what period? A number and a rough stretch of time. If you cannot get to three separate occasions above, this is the part I need most.

3. Where does this happen?

If it happens in something scheduled, a meeting, a review, a standing call, name it, then open your calendar and tell me how many times it is scheduled in the next 30 days.

If it does not happen in anything scheduled, it still happens in response to something. Tell me what that something is. You ask them for a decision, a particular kind of job comes to you both, someone on your team needs something from them. Then tell me roughly how many times you expect that to come up in the next 30 days. Check where you can rather than estimating.

4. How does this person reach you, and how do you reach them?

A list rather than prose. Meetings, one to ones, chat, email, shared documents, anyone who carries messages between you. All of them, including the ones this problem does not happen in.

5. What else changes in the next 30 days?

One specific thing: anything already scheduled that would remove the occasion for this happening. They are leaving. You are leaving. The project ends. The reporting line changes. One of you moves to a different team. Tell me even if you are sure it will not affect this, and tell me even if it is not yet confirmed.

If a name slips in, it will be replaced with a label before anything is stored.

6. Two questions with yes or no answers

a. Is there any formal process underway or expected between you: HR, grievance, disciplinary, legal, or a settlement discussion?

Yes No

b. Does this situation involve anyone's health or safety, or an urgent personal crisis?

Yes No

7. What do you think is going on, and what do you expect to happen next?

Two or three sentences. Your read, not a summary of what you wrote above.

This is here for one reason. At thirty days you grade my forecast against what actually happened. Without a record of what you already believed, that grading quietly becomes a comparison against a memory that has had thirty days to move. Writing it down now makes both readings checkable, yours and mine.

Where do I send the reply?

Your name Your email

I read every case file myself and reply within two business days, either with an acceptance and a payment link or with a decline and the reason for it. There is no charge for the review, whichever way it goes.

What you send is handled under the privacy notice and the terms.