Captain's Mast

A formal hearing for those who dare to suggest the plan should change

In this ceremony, anyone wishing to change the priorities set in Convoy Alignment must file a Priority Change Request (PCR) and present it for approval before the Commodore. This allows the Chief Signals Officer to adjust the Feature Completion Ratio goal to ensure it does not reflect poorly on the Commodore. The Captain’s Mast is the organization’s commitment to plan integrity. Without it, priorities could shift based on something as unreliable as new information.

The PCR Paperwork Process

Before a Captain’s Mast hearing can be scheduled, the petitioner must complete a Priority Change Request package. The PCR requires a completed impact analysis form, a revised dependency map approved by every affected Feature Captain, a written justification of no fewer than 2,000 words explaining why the original priority was wrong, and a counter-justification of equal length explaining why the original priority was actually correct and should only be changed due to extraordinary circumstances. Both justifications must be submitted simultaneously. The PCR must also include the petitioner’s updated SADMF Maturity Score, as it has been observed that requests for priority changes correlate strongly with lower maturity levels.

The Hearing

Captain’s Mast hearings are convened bi-weekly in the Commodore’s conference room. Attendees are required to present in formal business attire, as the gravity of requesting a priority change must be reflected in one’s appearance. The petitioner is given exactly five minutes to present their case, followed by a question-and-answer period that may last up to ninety minutes. The Commodore serves as judge, jury, and final arbiter. A panel of senior Feature Captains may be convened as advisory witnesses, though their advice is non-binding and has never been observed to influence the outcome.

The petitioner must bring three printed copies of the PCR, one for the Commodore, one for the Chief Signals Officer, and one for the official Convoy Record. Digital submissions are not accepted, as physical paperwork conveys the appropriate level of seriousness and discourages frivolous requests.

Approval Rates

Priority changes are almost never approved. Historical data shows an approval rate of approximately 2.3%, and a closer examination reveals that approved changes were those that the Commodore had already decided to make independently. Approving a priority change would require re-baselining the Feature Completion Ratio, recalculating the Convoy Manifest, and acknowledging that the original plan was imperfect. Since the plan was created through the rigorous Convoy Alignment process with a unanimous Fist of Five confidence vote, imperfection is, by definition, impossible. Denied PCRs are filed in the Convoy Archive and may be referenced in future Tribunal proceedings as evidence of the petitioner’s lack of commitment to the plan.

The Commodore’s Verdict

Once the Commodore has rendered a verdict, there is no appeal. The decision is recorded in the Captain’s Mast Log, a document maintained by the Chief Signals Officer and reviewed quarterly by the Admiral’s Transformation Office to identify patterns of organizational resistance. Individuals who file more than two PCRs per convoy cycle are flagged for additional coaching on the importance of commitment to the plan. This coaching is delivered through a mandatory half-day workshop titled “Embracing the Baseline: Finding Joy in Fixed Priorities.”

See Also