Events

Events are the rhythmic heartbeat of the team. Each event corresponds to a PDCA phase at a specific layer.

Event	Layer	PDCA	Duration	Frequency	Participants
Planning	Strategic	Plan & Do	2–4 hours	Quarterly	Team Owner, Team Leader
Briefing	Tactical	Plan & Do	1–2 hours	Weekly	Team Leader, Team Members
Debriefing	Tactical	Check & Act	1 hour	Weekly	Team Leader, Team Members
Circle	Operational	Full PDCA	Variable	Continuous	Team Members
Review	Strategic	Check & Act	2–3 hours	Quarterly	Team Owner, Team Leader

Quarterly:  ┌─ Planning ─────────────────────────────────────────┐
            │                                                     │
Weekly:     │  ┌─ Briefing ─┐  ┌─ Briefing ─┐  ┌─ Briefing ─┐  │
            │  │             │  │             │  │             │  │
            │  └─ Debriefing ┘  └─ Debriefing ┘  └─ Debriefing ┘ │
            │                                                     │
Continuous: │  ──── Circle ──── Circle ──── Circle ────────────── │
            │                                                     │
Quarterly:  └─ Review ───────────────────────────────────────────┘

Anti-pattern: The Ceremony

An event runs on schedule but produces no decisions, no learning, and no visible change. Attendance is mandatory but attention is optional. The agenda is followed mechanically. Everyone leaves and nothing is different.

How to detect: Event outputs (Matrix updates, Board changes, Stories) are not created or updated during or after the event. Participants cannot name what was decided. The same slides are shown each cycle with minor updates.

How to recover: Enforce the rule: every event must produce a visible artefact change. If Planning did not change the Matrix, it was not Planning. If Debriefing did not identify an improvement opportunity, it was not Debriefing. Cancel events that produce nothing — the discomfort of cancellation is more productive than the comfort of routine.