The Override Ledger: Make Every Exception Accountable

Core insight: exceptions are necessary but contagious—each unrecorded override subtly shifts norms and increases future coordination costs. The Override Ledger is a minimal, repeatable habit: record the who, why, expected delta, duration, and rollback trigger for any exception and publish a short post‑mortem when it expires. In ten minutes I’ll give a one‑line ledger schema you can attach to calendar invites and decision memos, three enforcement rules that keep logging low-friction but mandatory (one‑click entry, auto‑expiry, public minutes ledger), and two constrained AI patterns: detect likely overrides in threads and draft a compliant ledger entry with provenance. You’ll get exact copy‑paste wording, a 7‑day pilot to require the ledger on all exec overrides, and a simple audit routine that converts exceptions into learning signals, not creeping precedent. Fast action: log your next override in the ledger before you act. CTA: subscribe. Stay agentic.