3.5 Three scales: a task, a worker, a company

In everyday life. A household runs the same pattern three ways. The first is one chore (asked, done, checked). The second is one babysitter (agreed rules, months of evenings, a regular check-in). The third is the household's house rules (set, followed, revisited each year).

The same rhythm repeats at three sizes. Only the time span changes, from minutes to years.

Scale	First 10 percent	Middle 80 percent	Final 10 percent
A task	The brief (intent, scope, authority) and the review contract	One run of the work	Evidence review, correction, approval of this output
A worker's lifecycle	The Role Contract: owner, authority, escalation, the evaluation cases it must pass before real work	Months of recurring work, inside its authority, stopping when its rules say so	Monthly review: KPIs checked, evaluations rerun, the contract updated, and the worker kept, changed or retired
Company governance	Policy: which work AI Workers may do, who owns each one, which actions always need a person, which knowledge is official	The AI Workforce works across functions	Audit: evidence trails read, incidents reviewed, workers expanded, restricted or retired

The rhythm at three scales, drawn as a grid. Rows are a task (minutes to hours), a worker (months) and a company (years). Columns are the first 10, middle 80 and final 10 percent. A dashed arrow runs from the final 10 column back to the first 10 column, labeled: what the final 10 learns becomes the next first 10, a better brief, a revised contract, a new policy.

Figure 3.2. The rhythm at three scales. Each final 10 percent feeds the next first 10 percent.

A worker's lifecycle. Chapter 2's Role Contract is the first 10 percent of the AP Worker's working life. It names Dave as owner and lists the cases the worker must pass before it touches real work. The middle 80 percent is every Monday register and vendor question after that. The final 10 percent is Dave's monthly review. Are duplicate payments still at zero? Do the evaluation cases still pass? Does the contract still describe the job? A worker whose contract has not been reviewed in a year is running on an old first 10 percent.

Company governance. At this scale the first 10 percent is policy, and it is set by leadership, not by each user. It decides which work may go to AI Workers at all, and which actions, such as releasing a payment, always need a person. The final 10 percent is audit. It only works if every worker left evidence behind. That is why the rhythm needs governed layers under it. Chapter 4 introduces them. KSoR, the Knowledge System of Record, governs what an AI Worker may know. DSoR, the Data System of Record, governs what it may do and keeps the evidence.

The first edition's Thesis states this as Invariant 1, one of its rules that always hold: the human is the principal. Every legitimate chain of action starts with a person who sets intent and owns the outcome.¹ The 10-80-10 rhythm is how that invariant looks in daily work.

3.5 Three scales: a task, a worker, a company

Check yourself

What is the first 10 percent of a worker's lifecycle?

Sources