The menu change that is coming and hasn’t been communicated. The quality standard that the operator is privately questioning but hasn’t surfaced to the kitchen. The vendor relationship that is being renegotiated and the kitchen doesn’t know the outcome yet. The price increase that the operator has decided on but hasn’t introduced to the cast who will have to present it to Guests.

Every one of those is levying [Uncertainty Tax] on the people who have to execute the product without knowing what is changing or why.

The kitchen cast member who suspects a menu change is coming but hasn’t been told performs differently than the kitchen cast member who has been included in the conversation. The server who knows a price increase is coming and understands the reason presents it differently than the server who discovers it when the Guest asks about the new menu.

The Product discipline for [Uncertainty Tax]: communicate changes before the cast has to execute them — with context, with rationale, and with enough time to develop competence before the Guest sees the result. The change that arrives as a surprise to the cast arrives as an uncertainty tax payment that shows up in the execution.