01 / The Incident
The first meeting was scheduled for fifteen minutes. The second was a follow-up to confirm the first meeting had occurred. By lunchtime, the entire day was booked with meetings about whether more meetings were needed. Rabbit suggested creating a steering committee. Harbormaster quietly took away his calendar privileges.
02 / The Evidence Has Questions
Johnny Five traced the invitations to a recurrence rule with no end date, duplicate organizers, and an automated follow-up that booked itself after every meeting. Mad Hatter declared the calendar sentient. Radar marked that hypothesis as emotionally understandable but unverified.
03 / An Inconvenient Explanation
Harbormaster canceled the accidental series, kept one purposeful meeting, and published a one-page decision log. Tuesday returned, slightly annoyed. The Rabbit submitted an expense report for lost biscuits.
Inspect recurrence rules, automation triggers, ownership and duplication before assuming a workflow is behaving intentionally.
Fictional story. Real investigative principle. Not a client audit or factual incident report.