The reality reporting glossary
The vocabulary for the gap between what gets said and what actually happens — defined plainly, with examples. Start here to learn the category.
Said vs Shipped
Said vs shipped is the gap between what a team reports and what their tools actually show. Here's why it opens, and how to close it.
The Reality Gap
The reality gap is the distance between what an organization believes is true and what's actually happening. What it is, why it grows, how to shrink it.
Reality Reporting
Reality reporting checks every claim against what your tools actually show, and surfaces the gaps. How it differs from status reporting and dashboards.
Status Drift
Status drift is when a task's reported status stops matching its real state over time. What causes it and how to catch it early.
Decision Drift
Decision drift is the gap between what a team decided and what it actually built. Why decisions erode and how to keep them anchored.
Claim vs Proof
Claim vs proof is the discipline of checking every stated outcome against verifiable evidence in your tools. What it means in practice.
Founder Reality Check
A founder reality check is the daily habit of verifying what the team reported against what actually happened. Why founders end up doing it by hand.
Organizational Gap
The organizational gap is the distance between how a company believes it operates and how it actually operates day to day.
Said-Done Gap
The said-done gap is the distance between “it's done” and it actually being done. The most expensive three words in a growing company.
Commitment Trace
A commitment trace follows a promise from the moment it's made to the evidence it was kept. Why commitments fall through the cracks.
Execution Gap
The execution gap is the difference between strategy as planned and work as delivered. Where intent leaks out on the way to done.
What Actually Happened
“What actually happened” is the verified record of events, as opposed to the reported version. Why the two so often differ.
Standup
A standup is a short recurring sync where a team shares progress and blockers. What makes one useful — and why so many become theater.
EOD Report
An EOD (end-of-day) report is a short summary of what someone accomplished that day. What to include and what makes them drift from reality.
Sprint Review
A sprint review is the end-of-sprint meeting where a team demonstrates completed work. Why “completed” and “demonstrated” aren't always the same.
OKR
OKRs are a goal-setting framework pairing an objective with measurable key results. Why OKRs drift from real progress mid-quarter.
Definition of Done
The definition of done is the shared checklist a task must meet to count as complete. Why a fuzzy one is where the said-done gap lives.
Status Meeting
A status meeting exists to find out what's actually happening. Why most of that information could be verified without a meeting.
Weekly Business Review
A weekly business review is a recurring leadership meeting reviewing key metrics and commitments. What separates a sharp WBR from a status readout.
RACI
RACI maps who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed for a task. Why ambiguous ownership is where work quietly stalls.
Single Source of Truth
A single source of truth is one authoritative place where a fact lives. Why most companies have many conflicting sources instead.
Accountability
Accountability is owning an outcome and being answerable for it. Why it erodes quietly when claims aren't checked against results.
Operating Cadence
An operating cadence is the regular rhythm of meetings and reviews that runs a company. How to set one that surfaces reality, not noise.
Founder Mode
Founder mode is the hands-on, detail-deep way founders run companies. Why it depends on actually knowing what's happening — and breaks without it.
Span of Control
Span of control is how many people or areas one leader can effectively oversee. Why visibility, not headcount, is the real limit.
Context Switching
Context switching is the cost of jumping between tasks and tools. Why reconciling scattered updates is a hidden, heavy form of it.
Proof of Work
Proof of work, in an operating sense, is verifiable evidence that something actually happened — the deploy, the payment, the login.
Alignment
Alignment is everyone working from the same understanding of priorities and reality. Why teams drift out of it without anyone noticing.