Interaction Triggers

Core Question: What causes an interaction to happen — time or events?

Cadence creates rhythm — but misses urgent situations. A critical blocker on Tuesday waits until Friday's review. Five days lost.

Other triggers add responsiveness. When a showstopper appears or a threshold is crossed, the system signals: interact now. Like the Toyota Andon cord — problem appears, line stops, help arrives immediately.

Cadence for rhythm (see Pattern Cadence), other triggers for adaptivity.

Details

Three Trigger Types

Designing Good Triggers

Triggers must be designed carefully. Bad triggers create noise; good triggers create appropriate response.

Five principles for effective triggers:

1. Objective & Measurable — Not "when there are problems" but "when blocked items > 3" or "when cycle time exceeds 10 days"
2. Early Detection — Triggers fire in minutes or hours, not days or weeks. The sooner you know, the smaller the problem.
3. Unavoidable Signal — The trigger is visible and demands attention. It can't be ignored or overlooked. Think Andon cord: the line stops.
4. Fast Response Possible — The right people are available to respond. A trigger is useless if everyone who could help is unavailable.
5. Specific Criteria — Clear, documented conditions. Everyone knows what triggers the interaction and what doesn't.

Practical Examples

Cadence-only system (common but limited): A team meets every Monday for planning and every Friday for review. On Tuesday, a critical blocker appears. It waits until Friday to be discussed. Five days lost.

Trigger added: Same team, but with a rule: "If any item is blocked for more than 24 hours without a resolution owner, trigger an immediate Blocker Sync with the affected parties." Tuesday's blocker gets addressed Wednesday morning.

Hybrid in practice: An FL2 delivery team has a Weekly Sync (cadence) but also an escalation trigger: "If cross-team dependency remains unresolved after two Daily Standups, trigger an FL2 Dependency Resolution meeting within 4 hours."

Toyota Andon pattern applied: A team defines: "If anyone can't complete their committed work item by end of day, signal on the board (red flag) and the team lead initiates a 15-minute Problem-Solving session the next morning before standup."

Smells — When to Look Closer

• Cadence-only thinking: "We'll discuss it at the next standup" — even when the issue is urgent
• Event-only chaos: Ad-hoc meetings without rhythm; nobody knows when to expect interactions; calendar anarchy
• Vague triggers: "When there's a problem" or "when needed" — no clear criteria, triggers never fire or fire randomly
• Ignorable signals: The trigger fires but nobody responds; the system learns to ignore warnings
• Missing response capacity: Triggers fire but the right people aren't available; triggers become frustrating noise
• Over-triggering: Too many triggers; constant interruption; no time for deep work

Related Patterns

• Meeting Cadence defines the rhythm — Interaction Triggers adds triggers that fire when state changes
• Board → Interactions reads the board for coordination needs — triggers define when those needs become urgent
• Interactions → Board makes outcomes visible — visible board state enables triggers to work

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More about this

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