Bureau equipment registry · No. 013

The Load-Bearing Sentence

A plan appears complete, but nobody has named the assumption that would make the recommendation collapse.

Issued Instrument 013Diagnostic

Use when

A plan appears complete, but nobody has named the assumption that would make the recommendation collapse.

Inputs

Write the proposed decision in one plain sentence.
Ask what must remain true for that decision to produce the intended outcome. List the answers without improving their appearance.
Select the three assumptions whose failure would materially change the decision.
For each one, record the current evidence, the tripwire that would make it unsafe, and the person responsible for noticing.
Choose one immediate test and one review date. State what happens to the decision if the assumption fails.

Machine rules

Check the required inputs before starting. Ask only for inputs that are missing.
Follow the procedure in order. Do not silently skip a step.
Use supplied evidence and named sources. Label assumptions and inferences.
Do not invent research, quotations, people, statistics, or certainty.
Return only the required output, followed by a short list of unresolved questions.
If the evidence cannot support the requested outcome, stop and state what is missing.

Bureau settings

Be precise, accessible, imaginative, and formally understated.
Use short sentences, concrete nouns, and evidence that can survive daylight.
Keep one consequential choice visible. Remove hype, consultancy fog, and generic AI phrasing.
Permit one useful oddity. Do not perform whimsy.
End with a decision, test, refusal, or next move.

Produces

A small assumption register that exposes the plan’s hidden supports before reality removes one.