Glossary
What is a RAID log?
A register of the four places delivery surprises come from — risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies — kept so each has demonstrably been looked at, not merely listed.
The categories are right; the usual ritual kills them. A standalone sheet filled at kickoff and reviewed monthly cannot distinguish "assessed, nothing found" from "nobody looked", so entries get invented to signal diligence. The working version attaches the four categories to the specific demand they belong to and makes assessed-and-empty a recordable answer.
Related terms
- Vertical work — A delivery stream owned by a single team or discipline that produces end-to-end value within its own lane — frontend, backend, data, mobile, platform.
- Horizontal work — A cross-cutting concern that pulses into several delivery streams at specific gates — security review, legal, compliance, design, accessibility, privacy.
- Readiness (three-state) — A planning dimension has three states, not two: not assessed, assessed and nothing found, and assessed with items.
This definition comes from building DeliverySheet — it takes a vague work request to a clear delivery decision, so the shape, owner, capacity, dependencies and open questions are on the table before anyone commits people or a date.