05 · Named metrics

LGTM

Landing, the Gap, Time-to-receipt, Momentum — four numbers for how work with AI is going. Every one is computable from the session record, and every one ships with its computation, so a skeptic can check the math.

LLanding
did the work land?

What share of AI-assisted work actually ships?

Landing is the share of build-intent sessions whose work reached a merged or published outcome within the follow-up window. It connects the session record to the receipts — commits, pull requests, published documents — so effort and outcome stay in one number.

Definition, computation, pseudo-code →
Gthe Gap
structural minus felt

Does the record agree with what people say?

The Gap is the difference between what the session record implies about how work is going (the structural reading) and what people report when asked (the felt reading). The two should roughly agree. When they diverge, something is wrong with the work — or with the safety of saying so.

Definition, computation, pseudo-code →
TTime-to-receipt
does listening come back?

When someone raises a problem, how long until something visible happens?

Time-to-receipt is the median time from a problem raised through the tools to a visible outcome: a change shipped, a decision recorded, or a clear no with the reason. It measures the organization's behavior — how fast listening turns into an answer.

Definition, computation, pseudo-code →
MMomentum
are we getting better?

Is the team measurably improving at working with AI?

Momentum is the direction of the other readings over time: the slope of a simple composite — Landing, inverse friction, the felt score — across trailing windows. It is the number the maturity ladder's top level asks about: whether the loop is actually compounding.

Definition, computation, pseudo-code →
Alongside the numbers you already run

Keep your dashboards. Add the work itself.

DORA four keysKeepDeployment frequency, lead time, change-failure rate, time to restore — still the right read on delivery health. What they can't say is why delivery slowed, or what it cost the people doing it.
Core 4 / SPACE-style benchmarksKeepThe quarterly balance check and the cross-industry yardstick. They sample how the quarter felt; the record covers the days in between.
LGTMAddLanding, the Gap, Time-to-receipt, Momentum — four numbers computed from the work's own record, continuous and consented.

LGTM reads the work itself. Your delivery dashboards read what shipped — and the two together explain each other.

The felt side

The Gap's felt reading comes from the same sixteen-statement instrument behind Score your org — answered on the person's terms, reported for teams.