Case kit 4: the component only you understand

Leans: IC track · Laws in tension: Legacy, Empowerment, Priorities · Camps: take the role and start the handover now vs stay through peak season

Read the full case text from `case-bank.md`, case 4, 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 component only you understand
    A senior engineer owns the pricing engine, alone. Bus factor: 1, for five years.
    
    His first lead role is finally offered, starting next month. Peak season starts in ten weeks. The offer will not wait.
    
    You will now hear the full case, one page, 5 minutes. Listen for what has already been tried.
    
    ---
    
    ## Case: the laws in tension
    - Legacy: a bus factor of 1 is a known risk, and his name is on it
    - Empowerment: a real handover means letting beginners make real mistakes, in season
    - Priorities: the season and the career both look like requirement number one
    
    Three laws, and they do not point to the same answer.
    
    ---
    
    ## One handover, both tracks
    Whether you lead a team of reports or lead technical direction without reports, this trap has your name on it.
    
    ICs face it as the component only they understand. EMs face it as the team that cannot run without them.
    
    Ownership you cannot hand off owns you.
    
    ---
    
    <!-- _class: activity -->
    ## Activity: prepare your camp
    Assigned camps, 10 minutes. One camp argues: take the role and start the handover now, accept the peak-season risk. The other argues: stay on the engine through the peak, protect the season, risk the seat.
    
    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 component only you understand
• Camp A zone: Handover camp. Sub: take the role, start the handover now, accept the season risk. Post your opening and your best evidence, one sticky each.
• Camp B zone: Season camp. Sub: stay on the engine through the peak, risk the seat. Post your opening and your best evidence, one sticky each.
• Decision zone question: Does your move still work if peak season goes badly?

Facilitator notes

What has already been tried: two juniors assigned to learn the system, both pulled back to features within a month; a promised move delayed for a year; and a manager who is already interviewing an external candidate for the seat.

Cross-examination questions:

• Handover camp: week eight of the season, 2 AM, the engine does the thing only Amr has ever debugged. Who is on the call, and what is Amr doing?
• Handover camp: the last two handover attempts died in a month. What makes yours survive contact with the feature roadmap?
• Season camp: the seat goes to the external hire. Describe Amr's next twelve months, honestly.
• Season camp: you just taught the company that being irreplaceable is punished with more of the same. Who builds the next bus factor of 1, knowing that?

Debrief: expect younger participants to take the role and older ones to protect the season. Surface it: the split is usually about whose risk feels real, the system's or the career's. Then ask who tried to negotiate a third option with the manager, and whether the case text supports it.

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