Shadow Scoping
Test your leadership decisions before your team does.
Simulate the psychological and technical ripple effects of decisions before they are executed.
The Problem
Leadership decisions in engineering organizations often have invisible costs:
A "quick pivot" that burns trust capital built over months
A deadline compression that triggers quiet quitting
A well-intentioned policy that alienates top performers
By the time these effects surface, the damage is done. Shadow Scoping lets you test decisions against your team's psychological landscape first.
How It Works
Monte Carlo simulation for human systems
Model Your Team
Each team member is represented as a persona with attributes: role, seniority, burnout level, trust baseline, personality traits, and life context.
Draft Your Decision
Enter the message or policy you're considering. Add context about the current situation your team is facing.
Run Simulation
AI models how each persona would react based on their unique psychological profile and current state.
Get Risk Scores
Receive aggregated metrics on trust resilience, burnout risk, and technical debt impact with actionable recommendations.
Risk Scoring Metrics
Trust Resilience
How much trust capital is consumed by this decision. 1 = severe damage, 10 = fully preserved.
Burnout Risk
Probability of triggering developer flight or quiet quitting. 1 = minimal, 10 = critical.
Tech Debt Impact
Long-term engineering cost of a short-term pivot. 1 = negligible, 10 = catastrophic.
See It In Action
The Decision
"Hey team! I know things have been a bit hectic lately, but I have got exciting news - we are launching in 3 weeks instead of 6! To show appreciation, leadership has approved pizza Fridays and a $25 DoorDash credit for anyone working weekends."
Context: Company laid off 20% of engineering last month. Remaining team has been pulling 50+ hour weeks.
Shadow Scoping Analysis
"This message will severely damage trust and accelerate burnout. The 'exciting news' framing for a deadline cut reads as tone-deaf given recent layoffs."
Core Philosophy
Trust is a depleting resource
Every decision either builds or spends trust capital. Unlike velocity, trust compounds over time but can collapse instantly.
People are non-linear systems
A 10% deadline cut doesn't cause 10% more stress. It may cause 100% if it crosses a threshold.
Context is everything
The same message lands differently after layoffs than after a successful launch.
Simulation beats intuition
Leaders often have blind spots about how their words land. Running decisions through diverse personas reveals hidden risks.
Ready to test your decisions?
Start with 10 free simulations per month and 50 pre-generated team personas.