A read-through of how a Lab stands.

Pattern question. Where does the Lab rely on a single element, person, or income? What would carry the load if it fell away?

1. 0 · absentSingle-purpose elements; monocultures in land, roles, or income; one point of failure.
2. 1 · emergingSome functions stack by accident; awareness is forming.
3. 2 · establishedMultifunction is a deliberate criterion; most elements serve more than one purpose.
4. 3 · embeddedDiversity and redundancy are maintained on purpose; no single point of failure.

The Lab's note. Most beds, roles, and income streams now serve more than one purpose. We name multi-function as a design criterion; we do not always meet it.

Pattern question. What value enters and then stops moving? Where does it pool instead of circulating?

1. 0 · absentValue pools and stops; surplus is hoarded or extracted; no circulation mechanism.
2. 1 · emergingSome sharing, informal and irregular.
3. 2 · establishedA circulation model operates; value moves between members and into the commons.
4. 3 · embeddedCirculation is the default and is measured; accumulation triggers redistribution.

The Lab's note. Some value circulates between members, but mostly informally. No agreed circulation model yet. Surplus from the land tends to pool with whoever harvested.

Pattern question. What is the next stage, and are its conditions being built, or is an end-state being imposed?

1. 0 · absentEnd-states imposed top-down; no thought to stages or what comes next.
2. 1 · emergingSome staged thinking, mostly reactive.
3. 2 · establishedWork is planned as succession; conditions built for the next stage on purpose.
4. 3 · embeddedThe system prepares its own next stage and its own handover.

The Lab's note. We plan in seasons, sometimes in years. The next stage is mostly intuited, not yet built on purpose. Succession is a topic, not a practice.

Pattern question. Where is harvest being taken before the ground and the relationships can carry it?

1. 0 · absentOutput prioritised over relationships and ground; extractive pace.
2. 1 · emergingRelationships valued in word; productivity wins in practice.
3. 2 · establishedRelationship and ground-building are funded and timetabled before output is expected.
4. 3 · embeddedThe group resists harvest pressure that would deplete relationships or land.

The Lab's note. We pay for relationship time before output. Council meets weekly even when there is no pressing harvest. The pattern holds; pressure tests it.

Pattern question. What signal or conflict is not yet being heard? Is there a structure that lets it surface early?

1. 0 · absentNo agreed way to handle conflict or record decisions; tension avoided until it breaks.
2. 1 · emergingConflict handled case by case; little written down.
3. 2 · establishedA documented conflict process exists and decisions are recorded; used when needed.
4. 3 · embeddedConflict is surfaced early as information; the process is routine; the record is consulted.

The Lab's note. A written conflict process exists, drafted last winter, and we have used it twice. Documentation of decisions is partial: minutes yes, reasoning sometimes.

Pattern question. Where is growth outpacing the capacity to integrate it? What wants to slow down?

1. 0 · absentGrowth pursued for its own sake or imposed; capacity ignored.
2. 1 · emergingCapacity is discussed but often overrun under pressure.
3. 2 · establishedGrowth decisions check integration capacity first; pace is deliberate.
4. 3 · embeddedThe group declines growth that exceeds its capacity to integrate.

The Lab's note. We have declined two growth opportunities this year because integration capacity was not there. We still feel pressure from outside; the decline is hard each time.

Pattern question. Who is affected by decisions but not yet part of making them?

1. 0 · absentDecided by few and informally; no shared process; no documented vision.
2. 1 · emergingParticipation aspired to but inconsistent; vision implicit.
3. 2 · establishedConsent-based process in use; decisions documented; vision written and shared.
4. 3 · embeddedGovernance is consistent and revisited; the documented vision guides decisions.

The Lab's note. Consent-based decision-making is the default. The shared vision is written but not always the one in the room. The document and the practice drift.

Pattern question. Beyond its own survival, what larger-than-itself does the Lab tend?

1. 0 · absentNo purpose articulated beyond the group's own survival.
2. 1 · emergingPurpose stated, weakly connected to practice.
3. 2 · establishedEcological, social, and economic goals named and pursued in practice.
4. 3 · embeddedSocietal goals are integral and evidenced across the three domains.

The Lab's note. Ecological, social, and economic purposes are named in the Charter and pursued in concrete projects. The economic leg is the youngest.

Pattern question. Which of the four worlds (government, knowledge, enterprise, civil) does the Lab not yet touch?

1. 0 · absentWorks in isolation; no government, knowledge, or enterprise relationships.
2. 1 · emergingOccasional contact with one or two external actors.
3. 2 · establishedActive relationships across more than one helix; stakeholders mapped.
4. 3 · embeddedIntegrated relationships across all four helices that shape the work.

The Lab's note. Active with two civil-society partners and one university research line. Government and enterprise helices remain thin. Mapping is informal.

Pattern question. How does the Lab notice what it is becoming, and does that noticing change the next step?

1. 0 · absentNo reflection practice; reactive only.
2. 1 · emergingOccasional informal reflection.
3. 2 · establishedRegular structured reflection, recorded.
4. 3 · embeddedReflection is routine and changes subsequent decisions.

The Lab's note. Quarterly reflection is on the calendar and happens, with notes. Whether what we learn changes the next quarter is the harder honest question.

Pattern question. What does the Lab depend on a single source for? What would standing on its own look like?

1. 0 · absentDepends on a single income or on subsidy; no economic base of its own.
2. 1 · emergingSome income, fragile and undiversified.
3. 2 · establishedA defined economic model with several streams; largely self-feeding.
4. 3 · embeddedEconomic base is diverse and independent of any single source.

The Lab's note. Three income streams: land sales, training fees, a small grant. None can carry the Lab alone; together they are fragile. The work to thicken is named.

Pattern question. Whose voice or threshold is not yet held? Where does language or form keep someone out?

1. 0 · absentClosed; no onboarding; representation narrow and accidental.
2. 1 · emergingAd hoc welcoming; no clear path in.
3. 2 · establishedA documented onboarding path; representation actively considered.
4. 3 · embeddedOnboarding is clear and used; the group widens who is represented as a practice.

The Lab's note. Welcoming is warm but ad hoc. No written path in. Who is at the table looks narrower than who lives nearby. We see this; we have not yet acted on it.

Pattern question. What is not being measured that should be, and to whom does the Lab give account?

1. 0 · absentNothing measured; no indicators; no account given.
2. 1 · emergingSome things noticed, not systematically.
3. 2 · establishedDefined indicators measured on a cadence, by someone, in a format.
4. 3 · embeddedMonitoring is routine and drives proportionate response.

The Lab's note. Some things are measured (harvest, attendance, hours). To whom we account beyond ourselves is not yet named. Indicators exist; cadence is uneven.

Pattern question. What is treated as fixed that could be a prototype? What experiment is being avoided?

1. 0 · absentFixed practices; no experimentation; failure hidden.
2. 1 · emergingOccasional trial, not framed as experiment.
3. 2 · establishedDeliberate experiments with observation and adjustment.
4. 3 · embeddedObserve, prototype, evaluate, adjust is the operating rhythm; results documented.

The Lab's note. Prototype-first is the operating phrase. We run small trials with observation, then adjust. Documentation of what we tried and why is improving.

Pattern question. What went wrong that has not yet been named honestly? What is being polished?

1. 0 · absentNo honest record; mistakes hidden; success polished.
2. 1 · emergingError acknowledged privately.
3. 2 · establishedMistakes documented and lessons drawn openly.
4. 3 · embeddedHonest reflection on what went wrong is a published, routine discipline.

The Lab's note. Mistakes get named in the room, not yet in a published record. A mistakes-and-lessons document was started in May; three entries so far.

Pattern question. What has the Lab learned that it has not yet given away?

1. 0 · absentKnowledge stays inside; nothing shared or taught.
2. 1 · emergingOccasional informal sharing.
3. 2 · establishedDeliberate education and outreach; materials shared.
4. 3 · embeddedOpen transfer of what is learned is embedded in how the Lab works.

The Lab's note. We host occasional workshops and write the odd field note. A discipline of open transfer is on the wishlist, not yet on the rhythm.