Mission Lead Training

Intro · Welcome to the conning tower

Welcome to the conning tower, Mission Lead.

I'm Captain Silas Brannock, and this is Pelypso University.

Course ML-101: Mission Lead Training.

I've been grading risks since before your sonar had batteries, and I'll tell you a secret.

A good field report is the best thing that can happen to a captain.

It means someone saw trouble before it saw us.

Your job is to turn those reports into decisions.

Stick with me, and you'll be the best Mission Lead in the seven seas.

Dive 01 · The Mission Lead's watch

Here's your post.

The Field Team spots risks and reports them.

You read every report, grade it, and decide what happens next.

You assign an owner and orders.

And when a risk needs funds or a decision above your pay grade, you call Central Command.

Most risks never leave your watch, and that's how it should be.

Command trusts you to sort the rough seas from the ripples.

Dive 02 · The Mission brief

Every watch starts on the Mission brief.

Across the top: open risks, how many are critical, and your average score, and which way it's heading.

Then field reports waiting, expected exposure against your reserve, overdue orders, and risks that have gone quiet for fourteen days.

Below, your objectives, the risk trend, and the risk map.

Click any square, and the register filters to it.

But if you read one panel, read Requires attention.

Overdue orders, Command asking questions, risks with no owner or no cost.

When it says all clear, you've earned your coffee.

Dive 03 · Sonar contacts: incoming field reports

The number next to Field reports is your queue.

Each card tells you who saw it, where, and when it could hit, plus the reporter's own guess at the score.

Treat that guess as a bearing, not a verdict.

Security issues wear a red Cyber pill, and Pelypso puts them at the top of the queue.

Handle those first, every time.

And if Pelypso thinks it's heard this one before, it says so: possible duplicate.

You have four choices. Accept, merge, ask, or deny.

Whatever you pick, the reporter always hears back.

Dive 04 · Grading a risk, the Captain's way

Now, grading. This is what I live for.

Click Grade and accept, and set two dials.

Impact first. If it happens, how bad? Negligible, minor, moderate, major, severe.

Ask yourself what breaks, who notices, and what it costs to put right.

Then probability. Rare, unlikely, possible, likely, almost certain.

Ask what has to go wrong, and whether it's gone wrong before.

Multiply the two.

One to four is low, five to nine moderate, ten to fourteen high, and fifteen or more is critical.

Anything ten or higher needs a cost.

Your best guess is fine. Pelypso multiplies it by the probability to show expected exposure.

Pick an owner, check the objective, and add it to the register.

The reporter earns fifty points, more for high and critical.

You'll get quicker. After thirty years, I do this in my sleep.

Don't tell the crew.

Dive 05 · Merge, ask, or deny

Two sailors spotting the same iceberg is good seamanship.

Merge the report into the risk that's already there.

They join the crew and earn twenty points.

If a report is thin, ask for more detail.

And if it isn't a project risk at all, deny it, but always with a short, kind reason.

A sailor who's turned away gently will report again tomorrow.

One who's ignored never will.

Dive 06 · Owner reports: discount, hold, or elevate

Owners send you a weekly field report on each risk they own.

Read what changed, then look at their suggestion.

You can take it with one click, or set the dials yourself.

Then discount, hold, or elevate, and add a line on why.

Here, Alicia's change board is working, so scope creep drops from fifteen to nine.

Only you change the official score, so steer by the facts, not the mood of the week.

On-time reports are marked, and so are late ones.

And if an owner's report is overdue, find them under Weekly owner reports, and hit Nudge.

Gertrude sends them a reminder, and they'll see it on My orders until they file.

Sometimes a weary sailor just needs a tap on the shoulder.

Dive 07 · The register and the risk drawer

The Risk register keeps your biggest threats on top.

Filter by objective or category, and watch for Needs cost, No owner, and Gone quiet.

Click a risk to open its drawer.

Set the target you're steering toward after mitigation.

Fill in the cost: most likely, low, high, and schedule slip.

Choose the response: mitigate, avoid, transfer, accept, or escalate.

Then give orders. Name the task, pick a sailor, set a due date, and assign it.

Every score change lands in the mission log, so the trend line tells the truth.

Dive 08 · Calling Central Command

Some storms are bigger than one submarine's crew.

When you need Command to decide, fund, or unblock something, open the drawer and escalate.

Make the ask specific: approve the GIS platform upgrade before design sign-off.

Say why it needs Command.

If it takes money, answer Yes to Additional funds needed, and enter the amount. Say, $380,000.

Then attach your documents, and send it up.

The risk shows Awaiting Command until they answer.

They'll approve, deny, or ask for more. If they ask, answer and resubmit.

And if you sort it out yourself, withdraw it.

Don't waste Command's time with ripples.

Dive 09 · A note from Gertrude

Every Monday morning, Gertrude, our submarine's mail clerk, sends you a digest.

It comes from gertrude@pelypso.com.

Field reports waiting, Command's decisions, overdue orders, and your top risks with their exposure.

Change how often it comes under Email digest.

Gertrude's been aboard longer than I have. Be nice to her.

Dive 10 · Captain's orders

That's the watch, Mission Lead.

Clear your queue every week.

Grade with your head, not your nerves.

Hold your owners to their reports.

And call Command only when it counts.

Every risk you grade well is one that never surfaces.

Fair winds and following seas.

Captain Brannock, out.