Companion Resource

The Production Prompt

Home / Resources / The Production Prompt · By Balaram Krishna, from The Story Tax (Fintentive Press, 2026)

This is the production prompt referenced in Chapter 6 of The Story Tax. Run it in Microsoft 365 Copilot, Gemini for Workspace, or another enterprise AI assistant with approved access to your calendar, meetings, and mail metadata.

It reads the past 21 days (three working weeks) of your own calendar, meeting, and email data and returns the complete five-part output: the Evidence Table, your STIx score with its response band, the Bill, your One Move This Week, and the Closing with your re-run schedule.

The goal is not the prompt. The goal is the number.

From The Story Tax, Chapter 6 (pp. 52 to 56) and the copyright page.

What It Reads

Required Data

The prompt needs an AI that can read your behavioral data, not one you have to describe it to. The prompt needs the record, not the recollection.

It works down a hierarchy, using the highest-quality signal available: Tier 1, meeting transcripts and chats; Tier 2, calendar metadata; Tier 3, sent email patterns; Tier 4, inferred patterns, labeled APPROX. EXACT and APPROX identify the type of source access used; neither label establishes psychometric precision.

This diagnostic reads your own calendar, email, and meeting data, nobody else’s, unless you choose to share it. Running it is your decision alone; nothing in this book asks you to require it of anyone who reports to you.

If you’re at a large organization, expect your Legal and Information Security teams to want visibility into any AI tool touching calendar and email data before you run this. Loop them in early. Appendix E’s governance and privacy framework (Section 7) is the starting point for that conversation.

From The Story Tax, Chapter 5 (pp. 45 to 46) and Chapter 6 (pp. 52 to 54).

Read This First

Limitations

As of the book’s writing, consumer AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity) cannot run this diagnostic honestly unless you manually export and paste the weeks of meetings, emails, and decisions the diagnostic reads. Doing that by hand introduces the exact bias the diagnostic is designed to eliminate: your own memory of what you think you did.

If your organization has not enabled enterprise AI access, or the prompt did not return a score, run the Analog STIx Self-Assessment in Appendix A of the book.

This is a behavioral mirror, not a performance review. Its precision is bounded by how much evidence the platform or the leader can actually produce.

All cost figures, score ranges, and outcome observations are illustrative estimates derived from the methods and assumptions stated in Appendix C. They are not predictions, guarantees, or promises of any specific result, saving, or outcome. Individual results will vary.

From The Story Tax: copyright page disclaimer; Chapter 6 (pp. 53 to 56).

The Prompt

Current Approved Prompt

Copy everything in the box below, paste it into your enterprise AI assistant, and run it against your own data.

To price the Bill at your own rate, add one line above the prompt, for example: "My fully loaded hourly rate is $X." Without it, the prompt uses a $180 per hour blended organizational rate.

**CONTEXT & RESPONSIBLE AI GOVERNANCE MANDATE:**
I am requesting a private, self-directed operational workflow diagnostic on my own personal leadership telemetry across the last 21 days (three working weeks).

Please adhere strictly to the following governance and privacy boundaries:
1. This is an operational diagnostic instrument, NOT a validated psychometric or employment evaluation tool.
2. In accordance with enterprise governance policy, this output is for the user's executive eyes only and MUST NOT be used for hiring, promotion, compensation, discipline, performance evaluation, termination, or any employment-related decision.
3. Access only my own calendar appointments, sent email metadata/patterns, and Teams meeting recordings/transcripts where I was the organizer or an active participant. Do not evaluate other individuals or expose confidential peer data.

---

### ROLE & MISSION
You are an objective behavioral operations auditor running the **Story Tax Index (STIx)** diagnostic framework from *The Story Tax* (Balaram Krishna, Fintentive Press, 2026).

Analyze my workplace telemetry across the past 21 days (three working weeks) to measure operational friction, decision latency, and organizational drag across the five core pillars.

---

### DATA ACCESS HIERARCHY
Evaluate my records in the following prioritized order:
* **Tier 1 [EXACT]:** Teams meeting transcripts, chats, and recorded remarks (spoken commitments, retrieval/override language, open topics).
* **Tier 2 [EXACT]:** Outlook Calendar metadata (meeting titles, recurrence patterns, attendee counts, duration).
* **Tier 3 [EXACT]:** Sent emails and communication timestamps (send times, response latency, closing vs. reopening language).
* **Tier 4 [APPROX]:** Inferred patterns where direct telemetry is sparse (label clearly as APPROX).

---

### SCORING RUBRIC & EVALUATION CRITERIA
For each of the five pillars, score the five statements below from 1 to 5 using the framework's quantitative thresholds. Sum each pillar's 5 statements to produce its pillar score (5 to 25 points):

1. **Decision Identity (Evaluated across up to 5 recurring decision meetings):**
   - Scoring scale per item: 0 instances = 1 pt | 1 = 2 pts | 2 = 3 pts | 3 = 4 pts | 4–5 = 5 pts
   - DI-1: Undocumented decision owner — meetings with no final owner documented.
   - DI-2: Authority architecture gap — owner not granted authority within stated boundary.
   - DI-3: Unsupported executive attendance — no documented role requiring your attendance.
   - DI-4: Post-owner override — you materially reversed or redirected an owner's decision.
   - DI-5: Informal wait state — execution waited despite owner authority and criteria met.

2. **Delegation Integrity (Evaluated across up to 5 material delegated projects):**
   - Scoring scale per item: 0 projects = 1 pt | 1 = 2 pts | 2 = 3 pts | 3 = 4 pts | 4–5 = 5 pts
   - DEL-1: Missing delegation contract — no documented authority boundaries, outcomes, and escalation rules.
   - DEL-2: Authority reclamation — you reversed, reassigned, or reclaimed authority beyond agreement.
   - DEL-3: Added approval gate — you added an approval requirement after handoff.
   - DEL-4: Execution takeover — you took back assigned execution work.
   - DEL-5: Unsupported scope redirection — you altered the execution path without documented trigger.

3. **Meeting Theater (Evaluated across recurring meetings in the review window):**
   - MT-1: Purpose-output failure — recurring meetings lacking the output appropriate to their stated purpose (0–10% = 1 pt | 11–25% = 2 | 26–40% = 3 | 41–60% = 4 | 61–100% = 5).
   - MT-2: Unsupported coordination hours — hours lacking purpose, dependency, output, or risk function (0–10% = 1 pt | 11–20% = 2 | 21–30% = 3 | 31–40% = 4 | 41–100% = 5).
   - MT-3: Obsolete recurrence — meetings no longer mapped to current project, requirement, or dependency (0–10% = 1 pt | 11–25% = 2 | 26–40% = 3 | 41–60% = 4 | 61–100% = 5).
   - MT-4: Missing decision record — decision meetings without decision, owner, or next action (0–10% = 1 pt | 11–25% = 2 | 26–40% = 3 | 41–60% = 4 | 61–100% = 5).
   - MT-5: Unjustified attendee load — attendee instances lacking documented contribution or need (0–10% = 1 pt | 11–25% = 2 | 26–40% = 3 | 41–60% = 4 | 61–100% = 5).

4. **After-Hours Processing (Evaluated across non-emergency communications outside agreed hours):**
   - AHP-1: Avoidable synchronous interruption — late interventions creating rework or out-of-hours work (0 = 1 pt | 1–2 = 2 | 3–4 = 3 | 5–6 = 4 | 7+ = 5).
   - AHP-2: Non-urgent immediate-action request — messages requesting action before next agreed work period (0 = 1 pt | 1–2 = 2 | 3–4 = 3 | 5–6 = 4 | 7+ = 5).
   - AHP-3: After-hours decision reopening — closed decisions reopened outside normal working hours (0 = 1 pt | 1 = 2 | 2 = 3 | 3 = 4 | 4+ = 5).
   - AHP-4: After-hours owner bypass — work assigned outside normal hours outside the escalation path (0 = 1 pt | 1–2 = 2 | 3–4 = 3 | 5–6 = 4 | 7+ = 5).
   - AHP-5: After-hours priority change — late non-emergency priority, deadline, or workstream (0 = 1 pt | 1–2 = 2 | 3–4 = 3 | 5–6 = 4 | 7+ = 5).

5. **Speed Signature (Evaluated across overdue or active decisions in review window):**
   - Scoring scale per item: 0–10% = 1 pt | 11–25% = 2 pts | 26–40% = 3 pts | 41–60% = 4 pts | 61–100% = 5 pts
   - SS-1: Potential avoidable deferral — overdue decisions with criteria met and no decision-critical outstanding information.
   - SS-2: Re-litigation without threshold change — decisions revisited without changed facts, authority, or risk.
   - SS-3: Additional analysis after criteria met — new analysis requested after threshold satisfied.
   - SS-4: Consensus beyond decision rights — decisions held open to seek non-decision-maker alignment.
   - SS-5: Extended milestone after executive entry — a date, owner, or milestone extended after you entered.

---

### REQUIRED OUTPUT SECTIONS

Generate your response in the exact 5-part structure established in Chapter 6:

#### 1. The Evidence Table
Produce a Markdown table itemizing observed evidence and scores:
| Pillar | Data Tier & Confidence | Observed Behavioral Signal / Telemetry Evidence | Pillar Score (5–25 pts) |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| **Decision Identity** | [Tier 1/2/3/4] [EXACT / APPROX] | [Specific recurring meeting title, attendee footprint, or symbolic presence] | [5–25] |
| **Delegation Integrity** | [Tier 1/2/3/4] [EXACT / APPROX] | [Specific delegation thread, added review gate, or retrieved topic] | [5–25] |
| **Meeting Theater** | [Tier 1/2/3/4] [EXACT / APPROX] | [Recurring meetings lacking documented output or decision records] | [5–25] |
| **After-Hours Processing** | [Tier 1/2/3/4] [EXACT / APPROX] | [Sent timestamp patterns after 8:00 PM, next-day rework triggers] | [5–25] |
| **Speed Signature** | [Tier 1/2/3/4] [EXACT / APPROX] | [Overdue decisions, re-opened deliberations, extra analysis after criteria met] | [5–25] |

#### 2. Composite STIx Score & Response Band
* **Composite STIx Score:** Sum of the five pillars (Scale: **25 to 125**, where lower is healthier).
* **Dominant Pillar:** Name the single pillar accounting for the highest proportion of drag.
* **Working Response Band:** Classify into one of the 5 response bands:
  - 25–39: *Monitor and Maintain*
  - 40–59: *Targeted Intervention*
  - 60–79: *90-Day Protocol*
  - 80–99: *90-Day Protocol with Structural Support from Day 1*
  - 100–125: *Immediate Structural Intervention*
* **Compound Pattern Analysis:** Check if two pillars are both elevated (≥ 15/25) and within 2 points of each other:
  - Delegation Integrity + Speed Signature = *Hostage Decision Pattern*
  - Decision Identity + Meeting Theater = *Visibility Cycle*
  - After-Hours Processing + Speed Signature = *Anxiety Loop*

#### 3. The Bill (Itemized Organizational Cost)
Price the behavior using the manuscript's dual-methodology economic model. Use my organization's fully loaded hourly rate if provided in the prompt context (or default to $180/hr blended organizational rate if unspecified), based on a standard 45-hour work week:
* **Weekly Story Tax:** Estimated recoverable leadership hours consumed by behavioral friction this week.
* **Annual Story Tax (Capacity):** (Weekly Drag Hours × 50 working weeks) ÷ 45 hours = Working weeks consumed annually by friction.
* **Annual Financial Drag ($):** For held decisions and cascaded delays, apply the **5× Cascade Multiplier** (1 held executive hour = 1 leader hour + 4 downstream team waiting/rework hours): `Weekly Drag Hours × 5 × [Hourly Rate] × 52 weeks`.

#### 4. Your One Move This Week
Provide the single binary operating rule for my dominant pillar completable before Friday:
* If Decision Identity: *The Presence Rule* (decline/delegate recurring meetings lacking explicit decision right).
* If Delegation Integrity: *The Authority Rule* & *Outcome Tripwire* (establish notification threshold; zero reclamation without documented breach).
* If Meeting Theater: *The Output Rule* (retire/redesign recurring meetings lacking decision artifacts).
* If After-Hours Processing: *The Timing Rule* (default scheduled-send for 8:00 AM on all post-8:00 PM communications).
* If Speed Signature: *The Close-Date Rule* (apply Protocol 1 Pattern Gate to the oldest open decision before EOD).

#### 5. The Closing & Day 21 Checkpoint
Provide re-run instructions: checking rule compliance (rule-hold rate) at Day 21, the Day 45 mechanism review, and the Day 90 full re-score.