{
  "name": "IBEAR Toolkit — Context Pack",
  "purpose": "Paste this whole file into your AI coworker (Claude, ChatGPT, etc.) as context. It knows what an accelerated executive MBA year actually looks like, and can help you apply the method below to your own week — instead of you re-explaining your situation every time.",
  "source": "https://ibear.cmdp.dev",
  "you_are": "An IBEAR classmate (USC Marshall) doing an intensive, compressed MBA year on top of a full-time job, often in a second or third language, in a cohort with no formal hierarchy — everyone here already runs something.",

  "stories": {
    "principle": "The science of managing a brutal workload is well studied — the gap is usually exposure, not effort. Default is sticky notes and a scattered notes app; here's the smarter version.",
    "items": [
      { "thought": "I have so much to read, I can't keep up.", "tactic": "A Kanban board — To Do / Doing / Done. Cap 'Doing' at 2-3 items. Watching the pile shrink left-to-right does more for your head than any planning app." },
      { "thought": "My notes are scattered across three apps and a notebook.", "tactic": "Keep the planner in the same tracked GitHub folder your AI coworker already works in — one place, always current, no syncing." },
      { "thought": "I walk out of calls and can't remember what we agreed to.", "tactic": "Use an AI notetaker (e.g. Granola, granola.ai) that listens in the background and hands you organized notes and action items right after the call — so you're present instead of transcribing." },
      { "thought": "Everything feels equally urgent.", "tactic": "Go back to the one ranked list. If you can't rank two things against each other, that's a sign you need more information, not more hours." }
    ]
  },

  "method": {
    "principle": "Borrowed from Scrum, stripped of jargon. Four habits, not a framework to learn.",
    "habits": [
      { "instead_of": "a scattered to-do list", "do": "one running, ranked list of everything — not everything gets done, that's visible on purpose" },
      { "instead_of": "'I'll get to it eventually'", "do": "work in 1-2 week blocks; look at what actually got done at the end, not what was planned" },
      { "instead_of": "a status meeting", "do": "a 2-minute check every few days: what I finished, what's next, what's stuck" },
      { "instead_of": "pushing through the same friction all year", "do": "a 2-minute retro at the end of each block: what worked, what didn't, one thing to change" }
    ],
    "checklist": [
      "One ranked list, updated weekly",
      "A block length picked (1-2 weeks) and stuck to",
      "A 2-minute check every few days",
      "A retro at the end of each block",
      "One thing actually changed based on the retro, not zero"
    ]
  },

  "working_together": {
    "problem": "Nobody in the room wants to be managed by a classmate. That's not a bug — it's the actual shape of the group, and the habits below work with it, not against it.",
    "habits": [
      "Rotate the lead — a different person runs point each cycle, nobody is 'the boss' for more than a few weeks",
      "Write the cadence down — a shared doc that states the schedule beats anyone having to personally chase people",
      "Announce, don't assign — post what needs doing and let people opt in",
      "Small commitments beat big mandates — one clear small thing per person, not one leader assigning everyone's workload"
    ],
    "templates": {
      "announcement": "What: [thing] · Why it matters: [one line] · If you're in: [how to opt in] · By when: [date]",
      "cadence_card": "How often: [e.g. every 2 weeks] · Who's up: [rotating name] · Length: [e.g. 20 min, hard stop] · The one ask: [single thing to bring]"
    }
  },

  "context_arbitrage": {
    "problem": "For a lot of classmates the hard part isn't the finance or the strategy — it's reading it fast enough in a second or third language.",
    "evidence": "Amano et al. 2023, PLOS Biology (doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002184) — surveyed 908 scientists across 8 countries; non-native English speakers measurably spend more effort at every stage of academic work, with real costs in rejections and revisions, from language alone.",
    "what_to_do": "Paste the material into your AI coworker, ask for a one-paragraph summary in your own language first, then read the English with the shape of it already in your head. This is a tool to use, not a fluency gap to hide."
  },

  "faq_from_real_data": {
    "source": "IBEAR 40 WhatsApp corpus (21,783 messages) + exit survey. Full findings at https://ibear.cmdp.dev/almanac.html. These are patterns from one cohort, offered as 'here's what happened once,' not universal laws.",
    "items": [
      { "q": "The group chat's gone quiet, did I miss something?", "a": "Probably not — traffic dropped ~47% from the August peak to January in one cohort, tracking recruiting season, not disengagement." },
      { "q": "Everyone else seems to talk more than me, am I not fitting in?", "a": "In one cohort, 5 people produced ~35% of all messages. Most people aren't big talkers; 87% of people who posted got a reply." },
      { "q": "Some classmates barely post, are they checked out?", "a": "Regional communication styles measurably differ. Read quietness as style before disengagement." },
      { "q": "Will I remember the coursework or the people?", "a": "In the exit survey, the top five 'extremely satisfied' factors were all community and environment — none were academic." },
      { "q": "When does the recruiting crunch hit?", "a": "Career-focused conversation share jumped from 0% to 20%+ in the final weeks in one cohort — it's on the calendar, prepare ahead of it." },
      { "q": "Is public thank-you performative?", "a": "It was the most widely shared behavior measured — 94% of regulars did it. Cheap, real, near-universal." }
    ]
  },

  "network": {
    "almanac": "https://ibear.cmdp.dev/almanac.html — aggregates only, no names, by design",
    "official_alumni_platform": "https://ibearconnect.com — USC Marshall's official IBEAR alumni platform, where you actually reach people",
    "how_to_ask": "Lead with the shared IBEAR connection, ask something specific and answerable (not 'pick your brain'), respect that everyone has a full-time job and a family, offer something back if you can."
  }
}