I'm OK; The Bull Is Dead

"I'm OK; the bull is dead.

Early in my career, when I worked as an engineer, my boss had a process by which the engineering team was expected to report project status. He insisted that we use the following steps, in the specified order:

1. Punch line: The facts; no adjectives, adverbs or modifiers. "Milestone 4 wasn't hit on time, and we didn't start Task 8 as planned." Or, "Received charter approval as planned."

2. Current status: How the punch-line statement affects the project. "Because of the missed milestone, the critical path has been delayed five days."

3. Next steps: The solution, if any. "I will be able to make up three days during the next two weeks but will still be behind by two days."

4. Explanation: The reason behind the punch line. "Two of the five days' delay is due to late discovery of a hardware interface problem, and the remaining three days' delay is due to being called to help the customer support staff for a production problem."

It was put to the test a few years later. It was past midnight, long after the time my son Raj, then 17 years old, should have been home. He was new to driving, and it was a stormy night. His mother and I were anxious and concerned about his well-being. Finally, the phone rang. It was Raj, and he said, "Dad, I'm OK; the bull is dead."

... continues here