Glossary
Glossary of terms
Terms used throughout the methodology, alphabetically indexed and anchor-linkable. 208 entries.
A
- Accepted Sacrifice
- What a chosen option knowingly gives up, recorded and signed — a decision that must not be allowed to become a later accusation.
- Activity Profile
- The reconciled proportions of activity types (focus, collaboration, meetings, social) an organisation's work consists of, segmented by population.
- Adjacency Requirement
- A proximity need grounded in process evidence — distinguished from adjacency preference, which is grounded in history.
- Adjacency Satisfaction
- Definition in development.
- Aggregation Threshold
- The minimum cohort size (five employees) below which no metric is reported, enforced architecturally to prevent individual identification.
- Agreement Renewal
- Definition in development.
- Aligned Demand Position
- The formally owned set of accepted, prioritised demand findings — evidence converted into organisational commitment.
- Asserted Assumption
- An assumption with no evidence lineage — someone said so; the risk concentration of any register.
- Assumption Register
- The governed inventory of every assumption a strategy stands on: source, confidence, owner, threshold and trigger per entry.
- Attendance Logic
- Definition in development.
- Attendance Without Overlap
- The signature failure of day-count hybrid policies: compliant presence with near-zero team simultaneity.
- Attribution
- Definition in development.
- Attribution Protocol
- Definition in development.
B
- Behavioural Assumption
- Definition in development.
- Behavioural Correlate
- Definition in development.
- Behavioural Drift
- The gradual divergence of actual behaviour from designed norms; classified as improvement to adopt, decay to re-norm, or signal to redesign.
- Behavioural Norm
- The usage rule a setting assumes (quiet protocol, booking discipline); half of every setting's design, and the half most often undelivered.
- Behavioural Signature
- A recurring pattern in observed use — avoidance, overload, hoarding, overflow — that carries diagnostic meaning about supply, norms or rules.
- Blank Page Reflex
- Definition in development.
- Booked But Empty
- The pattern of high reservation with low measured presence; an allocation and behaviour finding, not a capacity finding.
- Breach Decision
- Definition in development.
- Break Condition
- The circumstances under which a sharing ratio fails — known, counted and provided for through an overflow protocol.
- Business Case
- Definition in development.
- Business Trigger
- The organisational event or pressure creating the workplace question — often different from the trigger first stated.
C
- Carry Forward Element
- Definition in development.
- Cause Attribution
- The diagnostic judgement of why a setting or policy underperforms — spatial, behavioural, environmental or assumption failure — which determines the remedy.
- Change Ambassador
- Definition in development.
- Change Impact Analysis
- Modelling the workplace consequences of a proposed organisational change before the decision, using the maintained models.
- Change Tone
- Definition in development.
- Claim Set
- What a workplace committed to deliver, in measurable terms — the reference every post-occupancy evaluation requires.
- Claimed Vs Evidenced
- Definition in development.
- Cluster Validity
- Definition in development.
- Cluster Walk Through
- Definition in development.
- Cohort Threshold
- See aggregation-threshold.
- Commissioning
- Definition in development.
- Communication Protocol
- Definition in development.
- Compound Approach
- Definition in development.
- Compound Risk
- Definition in development.
- Concept Confirmation
- Definition in development.
- Confidence Grading
- Definition in development.
- Conflict Register
- Definition in development.
- Consent Architecture
- The technical implementation of consent: explicit, granular, revocable, and consequence-free in both directions.
- Constraint Register
- Definition in development.
- Contested Finding
- A finding leadership disputes, held with an explicit resolution route: the evidence that would settle it.
- Coupled Need
- A need requiring both a spatial answer and a cultural one, in a defined sequence — the largest and most mishandled category.
- Criteria Inflation
- Definition in development.
- Cultural Dependency
- Definition in development.
D
- Data Triangulation
- Definition in development.
- Decant
- Definition in development.
- Decidable Criterion
- A judgement standard specific enough to score options against; 'supports collaboration' is a wish, not a criterion.
- Decision Architecture
- Definition in development.
- Decision Content
- Definition in development.
- Decision Criteria
- Definition in development.
- Decision Document
- Definition in development.
- Decision Environment
- The maintained, regenerable state of a living strategy: linked models, live register, decision history and monitoring — the alternative to the final report.
- Decision History
- The consolidated, searchable record of every major decision and its reasoning — the organisation's institutional memory of why.
- Decision History Walk
- Definition in development.
- Decision Log
- The running record of decisions with their evidence and reasoning; the instrument that separates reopening from relitigation.
- Decision Mandate
- Definition in development.
- Decision Rights
- The explicit assignment of who decides, who advises and who is consulted, per decision — designed before conflict, not during it.
- Dedication Claim
- Definition in development.
- Demand Cliff
- A sharp concentration of presence created by coordinated rhythms (anchor days), which spatial models must survive or policy must redistribute.
- Demand Cluster
- An evidence-derived segment of the workforce sharing measured demand characteristics with spatial consequences — the disciplined alternative to fictional personas.
- Demand Model
- Definition in development.
- Dependency Register
- Definition in development.
- Design Intent
- Definition in development.
- Divergence Monitoring
- The continuous comparison of registered assumptions against evidence streams, classified against thresholds.
- Drift Tolerance
- Definition in development.
E
- Employee Value Proposition
- Definition in development.
- Enacted Culture
- The culture as actually practised: how decisions are really made, what is really rewarded, what really happens to dissent.
- Enclosure Ratio
- The proportion of provision offering acoustic and visual separation; the recurring deficit against measured focus demand.
- Environmental Performance Layer
- Definition in development.
- Epistemic Category
- Definition in development.
- Escalation Route
- Definition in development.
- Espoused Culture
- The culture an organisation claims — its stated values; distinguished from the enacted culture its behaviour reveals.
- Espoused Vs Enacted Culture
- Definition in development.
- Evidence Chain
- The traceable line from a recommendation or number back through the models and findings to the primary evidence that supports it.
- Evidence Chain Audit
- Definition in development.
- Evidence Inventory
- Definition in development.
- Evidence Lineage
- The documented origin of a criterion, pillar or requirement in specific findings — its defence when challenged.
F
- Fairness Fault Line
- Definition in development.
- Feedback Loop
- Definition in development.
- Focus Deficit
- Definition in development.
- Forced Ranking
- The requirement that criteria be prioritised against each other, preventing the everything-is-essential evasion.
- Functional Brief
- Definition in development.
G
- Gap Trajectory
- Definition in development.
- Ghost Demand
- Definition in development.
- Governance Charter
- Definition in development.
- Growth Allocation
- Definition in development.
H
- Hoarding
- Defensive reservation behaviour — recurring blocks held at low realisation — typically produced by scarcity anxiety and permissive recurrence rights.
- Hypothesis Discrimination
- Definition in development.
I
- Indicator Stability
- Definition in development.
- Informal Constitution
- Definition in development.
- Interdependency Matrix
- The evidence map of which teams exchange work with which, at what intensity and rhythm; the primary input to stacking.
K
- Kit Of Parts
- The complete setting system of a workplace: each setting type with purpose, quantity, requirement profile and behavioural logic.
- Known Sacrifice
- See accepted-sacrifice.
M
- Management Rhythm
- Definition in development.
- Measurement Framework
- Definition in development.
- Measurement Logic
- Definition in development.
- Mechanism Classification
- Definition in development.
- Meeting Ecosystem
- Definition in development.
- Mis Provision
- Supply of the wrong kind rather than the wrong amount — the most common structural gap in legacy workplaces.
- Misattributed Sentiment
- Definition in development.
- Mixed Cause
- Definition in development.
- Mobilisation
- The Discover-phase work of establishing decision context, governance, evidence requirements and shared understanding before research begins.
N
- Negative Guarantee
- An explicit written commitment about what data will never be used for — as important as any statement of what it is for.
- Neighbourhood
- A team-anchored zone within a shared workplace, balancing belonging against the flexibility of the wider ecosystem.
- Norm Decay
- Definition in development.
- Novelty Inflation
- Definition in development.
O
- Option Differentiation
- Definition in development.
- Overflow Protocol
- The designed response for days when demand exceeds capacity, converting a known condition into a managed one rather than a crisis.
- Overlap Audit
- Definition in development.
- Owner Attestation
- Definition in development.
P
- Peak Distribution
- The statistical distribution of simultaneous presence, which — not the average — determines real capacity requirements.
- Peak Pattern
- Definition in development.
- Performance Criteria
- Definition in development.
- Pillar Set
- Definition in development.
- Policy Artefact
- Behaviour produced by a rule or system setting rather than by preference; must be separated from demand before any pattern is read.
- Post Occupancy
- The period after occupation in which the workplace's actual performance becomes measurable against its claims.
- Presence Principles
- Evidence-chained statements of when presence is expected because it creates value — the alternative to day counts.
- Presence Value
- The value physical co-presence creates for a given task, team or organisational purpose; the evidence basis of legitimate presence logic.
- Prevalence Intensity Map
- Definition in development.
- Programme Of Requirements
- The quantified spatial demand statement: settings, capacities, ratios, adjacencies and zones, each line evidence-annotated.
- Proportionate Response
- Definition in development.
- Psychological Safety
- The shared belief that interpersonal risk-taking is safe; a measured variable that determines whether exposed and shared settings get used.
- Pulse Cadence
- Definition in development.
R
- Ratio Band
- Definition in development.
- Realisation Rate
- The proportion of bookings that convert into actual presence — the metric separating reservation behaviour from demand.
- Reality Intervention
- Definition in development.
- Reconciliation Logic
- Definition in development.
- Redistribution
- Definition in development.
- Regeneration Protocol
- Definition in development.
- Regeneration Trigger
- The pre-defined condition under which an archived scenario or model is rebuilt from the maintained environment.
- Rejection Test
- Definition in development.
- Relitigation
- The informal re-contesting of decided questions without new evidence; prevented by ownership, records and reopening rules.
- Reopening Rule
- The pre-agreed evidence conditions under which a confirmed decision may legitimately be reopened.
- Reported Demand
- Workplace demand as expressed by the workforce through structured assessment — what people report about their patterns, activities and needs.
- Reported Vs Observed
- The systematic gap between what people say about their behaviour and what measurement shows; both are valid evidence for different things, and neither substitutes for the other.
- Representative Cycle
- Definition in development.
- Representativeness
- Definition in development.
- Required Overlap
- The simultaneous presence of the specific people who need each other — the variable day-count policies fail to produce.
- Requirement Profile
- The measurable specification a setting must meet: acoustic class, enclosure, lighting, thermal, technology and accessibility conditions.
- Residual Population
- Definition in development.
- Residual Uncertainty
- Definition in development.
- Response Action Loop
- Definition in development.
- Response Bias
- Definition in development.
- Reversal Cost
- What it would cost to undo a commitment; the price of being wrong, which appraisals should carry and rarely do.
- Rhythm Redistribution
- Definition in development.
S
- Sacrifice Drift
- Definition in development.
- Scarcity Spiral
- The feedback loop in which perceived shortage drives defensive booking, which produces real shortage; broken by rules, fed by capacity.
- Scenario Archive
- Definition in development.
- Scenario Coherence
- The internal consistency of a scenario's assumption set; a future, not a single-variable tweak.
- Scoring Drift
- Definition in development.
- Secure Zone
- Definition in development.
- Selective Re Diagnosis
- Definition in development.
- Self Expressed Need
- Definition in development.
- Semi Structured Interview
- Definition in development.
- Sensitivity Structure
- Definition in development.
- Sequencing Map
- Definition in development.
- Service Level
- The percentile of demand days a capacity decision serves; the explicit acceptance of a defined number of break days.
- Setting Catalogue
- Definition in development.
- Setting Taxonomy
- The consistent classification of workplace settings by purpose, enabling supply to be inventoried, compared and re-assessed over time.
- Spatial Brief
- Definition in development.
- Spatial Consequence
- Definition in development.
- Spatial Memory
- Definition in development.
- Squeeze Map
- Definition in development.
- Stacking
- The allocation of populations across floors and buildings; blocking is their arrangement within floors.
- Stage Mapped Verification
- Definition in development.
- Standing Capability
- Workplace strategy operated as a permanent organisational function rather than a periodic project.
- Steering Cadence
- Definition in development.
- Steering Group
- Definition in development.
- Strategic Scope
- Definition in development.
- Strategic Tension
- A genuine conflict between organisational ambitions, registered explicitly rather than resolved prematurely.
- Straw Man Option
- Definition in development.
- Straw Man Scenario
- Definition in development.
- Structural Demand
- Definition in development.
- Structural Tolerance
- The amount of accumulated change a strategy can absorb through recalibration before it must be refreshed.
- Structured Challenge
- Definition in development.
- Subculture
- Definition in development.
- Success Criteria
- Definition in development.
- Supply Demand Gap
- The classified difference between what the portfolio provides and what measured demand requires: over-, under-, mis-provided or performing.
- Support Space
- Definition in development.
- Suppression Controls
- Mechanisms preventing identification from aggregate data by combination or intersection of small groups.
T
- Task Type Analysis
- Definition in development.
- Team Agreement
- The structured instrument through which a team converts presence principles into its own overlap commitments, within guardrails.
- Team Level Cliff
- Definition in development.
- Team Level Variance
- Differences between teams hidden inside organisational averages; routinely where the strategically relevant signal lives.
- Temporal Rhythm
- The time structure of workplace demand: daily curves, weekly patterns, cycles and event-driven spikes.
- Territorial Recolonisation
- The reclaiming of shared settings as personal or team territory; the earliest predictor of a sharing model under strain.
- Territoriality
- Definition in development.
- Testable Implication
- Definition in development.
- Thematic Coding
- Definition in development.
- Traceability
- Definition in development.
- Trade Off Governance
- The discipline of deciding between legitimate competing goods — cost versus experience, sharing versus territory — with criteria, evidence and accountability.
- Triangulation
- Reading multiple evidence streams against each other — reported, observed, interpreted — so that convergence warrants confidence and divergence becomes a diagnostic question.
- Trigger Threshold
- The level of divergence between an assumption and reality at which model regeneration is convened rather than tolerated.
U
- Utilisation
- The proportion of a space's capacity in use over a period; meaningful only alongside its peak structure and never a synonym for booking rates.
V
- Value Claim
- Definition in development.
- Value Engineering
- Definition in development.
- Variance Compression
- Definition in development.
- Verification Method
- Definition in development.
- Versioned Strategy
- Definition in development.
- Vertical Separation
- The adjacency cost of floor separation; stairs are a behaviour, lifts are a barrier, and stacks that ignore this satisfy adjacency on paper only.
- Vision Framework
- Definition in development.
W
- Workaround
- An adaptation people make when provision fails their need — unserved demand made visible.
- Works Council
- Definition in development.