One incident, five messages.
Five levels sit between noticing a problem and closing it. Which one you send from is a choice, not a rank.
Tuesday, 15:40. You notice checkout failing on card payments.
Flagger
Raises a hand. Carries nothing.
Your reader pays
The whole investigation, from a question mark.
What moves you up
Five minutes in the logs makes you a Reporter. If nobody has noticed, flag first, then climb.
Reporter
Brings facts, not thinking.
Your reader pays
Somebody else turns your facts into a theory, on the same clock.
What moves you up
Walk the six deploys since noon, newest first. Ten minutes, and the cause is yours.
Diagnoser
Names the cause. Hands over the call.
Your reader pays
A snap judgement call, by whoever has less context than you.
What moves you up
Price the routes: rollback, hotfix, flag it off. Then pick one.
Advisor Sweet spot
Recommends one path. Asks for a yes.
Your reader pays
One word.
What moves you up
Stop asking. Do it and send the result, unless the door only opens one way: money leaving, a customer emailed.
Why this is the sweet spot
Cheap for your reader, and still a real decision, not a rubber stamp. The deadline is what makes it the rung L. David Marquet’s Ladder of Leadership calls “I intend to”.
Owner
Decides, does it, closes the door.
Your reader pays
Reading time.
How this one goes wrong
No level six. It fails quietly: work nobody heard about reads as work that never happened.
Steal the Advisor message
Every line answers a question your reader would otherwise have to ask. Drop the deadline and it is a menu, not a recommendation; name a default you will not run and it is noise.
Take the message you were about to send. Move it up one rung.