Case kit 3: the name you give your manager

Leans: management track · Laws in tension: The Lid, Legacy, Connection · Camps: name the strongest engineer vs name the multiplier

Read the full case text from `case-bank.md`, case 3, out loud at the case slot (about 5 minutes).

To run this case: replace the four case slides in `slides/week-5-case-clinic.md` (the brief, the laws in tension, the both-tracks bridge, and the prepare-your-camp activity) with the slide block below, re-render the deck, and rename the case frame on the activity board with the labels below. The decision sheet in `worksheets.md` works unchanged for every case.

Slide block (Marp)

The slides for this case, on brand and ready to present. Click the deck, then use the arrow keys. Open full screen.

## Case: the name you give your manager
    A team is splitting in two, and its lead must recommend who leads the new half, by Monday morning.
    
    One candidate is the strongest coder in the department, and juniors avoid him. The other is technically weaker, and the team runs through her.
    
    You will now hear the full case, one page, 5 minutes. Listen for what has already been tried.
    
    ---
    
    ## Case: the laws in tension
    - The Lid: whoever leads caps the new team, and the lid is measurable
    - Legacy: the settlement flow has a bus factor of 1, and it is his
    - Connection: whoever is not named will guess whose recommendation it was
    
    Three laws, and they do not point to the same name.
    
    ---
    
    ## One recommendation, both tracks
    Whether you lead a team of reports or lead technical direction without reports, someday a manager asks you: who should lead?
    
    Your answer is a lid decision: reward the strongest output, or bet on multiplication.
    
    The Peter Principle study measured exactly this trap, on 53,000 careers.
    
    ---
    
    <!-- _class: activity -->
    ## Activity: prepare your camp
    Assigned camps, 10 minutes. One camp argues: name Omar, keep your best coder, manage the leadership risk. The other argues: name Hana, protect the new team's lid, manage Omar's exit risk.
    
    Build your opening and your best evidence from the case text.
    
    Challenge: what is the other camp's strongest attack on you?

Board frame labels

• Frame title: Case: the name you give your manager
• Camp A zone: Omar camp. Sub: name the strongest engineer, keep him, manage the leadership risk. Post your opening and your best evidence, one sticky each.
• Camp B zone: Hana camp. Sub: name the multiplier, protect the lid, manage the exit risk. Post your opening and your best evidence, one sticky each.
• Decision zone question: Would you say your 3 lines to the face of the person you did not name?

Facilitator notes

What has already been tried: two quarters of coaching Omar on mentoring (it improves for weeks, then fades), an engagement survey that names Hana unprompted, and a manager who wants exactly one name by Monday.

Cross-examination questions:

• Omar camp: you just promoted the person juniors are afraid to ask questions. What does the new team's question rate look like in month two?
• Omar camp: the Peter Principle study says individual output does not predict this job. What evidence do you have that Omar is the exception?
• Hana camp: Omar leaves in a month with the settlement flow in his head. What is your week-one move on the bus factor?
• Hana camp: what does "technical excellence is not rewarded here" cost you in the next hiring cycle, and how do you counter that message?

Debrief: expect a majority for Hana in theory and a quiet minority for Omar in practice (retention fear is real). Surface the third option people will invent (split the role, delay the split) and ask what it costs: most versions are the middle option wearing a costume.

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