A shutdown in which the project does not continue and the event is abrupt: short notice, usually someone else’s decision, with only one chance to get it right.
abstinence solution
A proposed solution that requires people to behave in ways they actually won’t. Its real purpose is to allow its proponents to pretend they have solved the problem.
advance directive
A document written while a project is still healthy that specifies conditions for shutdown, who has authority to decide, what assets must be preserved, and what obligations must be honored.
anticipatory mourning
Grief that begins before an expected loss rather than after it, involving simultaneous processing of past, present, and future losses.
asset transfer
The transfer of selected assets and obligations from one party to another while leaving the original legal entity intact.
attention narrowing
A cognitive effect of acute stress in which focus narrows to the most visible problem while other concerns become invisible.
E.2 B
Benevolent Dictator for Life (BDFL)
A governance model in which one person holds final decision-making authority over a project for as long as they choose to lead it.
bullshit
Communication that disregards truth in favor of achieving an effect, in which the speaker is indifferent to whether their statements are true or false.
E.3 C
civil society
Organizations, networks, and communities that operate outside government and the commercial sector.
community threat
A threat that affects a large group of people simultaneously, overwhelming the community’s capacity to absorb the shock.
continuing bonds
A theory of bereavement that states that healthy mourning does not require severing the relationship with what was lost but can instead involve ongoing connections.
E.4 D
deliberate closure
A shutdown in which the project does not continue and the event is gradual: decided by project leaders with enough notice to plan and correct course.
digital object identifier (DOI)
A persistent unique identifier assigned to a digital object such as a dataset or software release so that it can be reliably cited and located.
dignity therapy
A brief structured intervention involving a guided life-review interview in which a person reflects on what has mattered most, producing a legacy document intended to extend their influence.
disaster
An abrupt, disruptive event that a project survives and recovers from.
disaster recovery
The process of restoring a project to working order after an abrupt event while the project continues.
E.5 E
emotion-focused coping
A response to stress that addresses a person’s internal emotional state rather than the external situation causing the stress.
entity transfer
The transfer of an entire project or other legal entity, including unknown obligations.
E.6 F
FAIR principles
A set of guidelines requiring that research data be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.
fantasy document
A plan that gives the appearance of preparedness but bears no relationship to what would actually happen if the plan were needed.
E.7 G
global threat
A threat that affects an entire community or society, leaving no external community available to provide support.
E.8 H
E.9 I
individual threat
A threat affecting one or a few members of a team, arising from career changes, life events, or external pressures targeting specific people.
E.10 J
E.11 K
E.12 L
leadership threat
A threat aimed specifically at a project’s leader, such as a reputational attack based on the leader’s research or public positions.
lottery factor
The minimum number of team members who have to win the lottery and retire in order for the project to come to a halt. Also known as “bus factor”.
E.13 M
Martha’s Rules
A consensus procedure in which a proposal passes unless enough participants formally object, balancing efficiency with broad participation.
MoSCoW method
A prioritization technique that sorts tasks into four categories: must do, should do, could do, and won’t do.
E.14 N
normalization of deviance
The process by which repeated small deviations from safe practice come to be accepted as normal, increasing the risk of eventual catastrophic failure.
E.15 O
E.16 P
password manager
Software that stores and manages login credentials securely, enabling strong unique passwords for each service.
problem-focused coping
A response to stress that addresses the external situation causing the stress rather than the person’s emotional reaction to it.
psychological first aid
A framework for supporting people in the early stages of a crisis by promoting safety, calm, self-efficacy, connectedness, and hope.
E.17 Q
E.18 R
recognition-primed decision making
A form of decision-making in which an expert recognizes a situation as an instance of a familiar type and acts on the first workable response rather than comparing alternatives.
E.19 S
street-level bureaucracy
The practice by which frontline workers use their own judgment to depart from institutional rules when applying those rules would produce worse outcomes.
succession plan
A document specifying what a departing leader is handing over, when each element will transfer, and what the successor will be responsible for.
succession planning
The process of preparing for a project to continue under new leadership on a gradual timeline.
suffrage
The right to participate in a binding governance decision, as distinct from the right merely to be consulted.
sunk cost fallacy
The tendency to continue investing in something because of past investment rather than expected future value.
supply chain attack
An attack in which a malicious actor compromises a project by gaining acceptance as a contributor.
survival arc
A three-stage pattern of response to disaster consisting of denial, deliberation, and decision.
E.20 T
threat modeling
A structured technique for identifying and categorizing risks to a system or organization.
tight coupling
A design property of systems in which components are so interdependent that a failure in one triggers failures in others.
total pain
The concept that suffering is never purely physical but has psychological and social dimensions that amplify each other.