The Epistemic Debt Self-Audit | Watertown Business Advisory, LLC

Epistemic debt is the gap between what an organization believes to be true and what is actually true, compounded over time by the cost of acting on that gap. It rarely announces itself. These twelve questions go looking for it.

Pick one team, process or area you know well, and answer for that — not for “the company.” It takes about three minutes. Your answers stay in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere. It works even better run together with the people who depend on the same decisions: the questions you disagree on are findings in themselves.

Question 1 of 12 · AssumptionsCan your team name the three assumptions this area depends on most?

Things that must be true about customers, markets, costs or capacity for the current approach to make sense.

Yes, we would agree on them quickly We would argue about it, or only one person could No, we have never spelled them out

Question 2 of 12 · AssumptionsDo you know when each of those assumptions was last checked against real evidence?

Yes, recently, and we could show it For some of them, or only roughly No, or "it has always been that way"

Question 3 of 12 · AssumptionsDo you know what result would tell you an assumption is no longer true?

If nothing could change your mind, it is not an assumption any more. It is a habit.

Yes, we know what would change our minds For some of them No, nothing we would currently notice

Question 4 of 12 · DecisionsFor the biggest decision still shaping this area, can someone find the reasoning behind it, not just the decision?

Yes, it is written down and easy to find Only by asking the right person No, we only know what was decided

Question 5 of 12 · DecisionsIs the person who made that decision still here?

Yes, or the reasoning was handed over before they left Yes, but the reasoning lives only in their head No, and the reasoning left with them

Question 6 of 12 · DecisionsIs there a rule everyone follows that nobody can explain?

"We don't sell to that segment." "That vendor is unreliable."

No, our rules trace back to evidence Probably one or two Yes, and nobody can say where it came from

Question 7 of 12 · MetricsFor your main metric, do you know what outcome it stands in for, and has that link been tested lately?

Yes, and we have checked it recently We know what it is for, but have not tested it Not really

Question 8 of 12 · MetricsIs there a report or dashboard people quietly work around because they don't trust it?

The workaround is where the real knowledge lives, and it is not written down.

No One or two people do Yes, everyone knows not to trust it

Question 9 of 12 · MetricsHas the way a key number is calculated changed without the people who read it being told?

Definitions, data sources, filters, time windows.

No, changes are announced Not sure Yes

Question 10 of 12 · AI & automationFor each automated decision or AI recommendation here, could someone explain when it would be wrong?

Yes, for all of them For some of them No

Question 11 of 12 · AI & automationWhen an AI tool gives an answer here, can you see where it came from and how current it is?

Fluent answers without sources are the fastest way to borrow confidence you have not earned.

Yes, sources and dates are visible Sometimes No, we just get the answer

Question 12 of 12 · AI & automationIf the automation were switched off tomorrow, could someone do the work by hand, and judge whether the automation had been doing it well?

Yes Someone could, slowly No

0 of 12 answered

How the Score Works

Each answer is worth 0, 1 or 2 points: the first answer to every question is 0, the second 1, the third 2. The total runs from 0 to 24, and each of the four areas from 0 to 6.

0–6: Maintained. Beliefs here get checked, and the reasoning behind them survives. Run the audit again when the team or the tools change.
7–14: Accruing. Normal for an area that has been running well for a while: some beliefs have quietly gone unchecked. Fix the gaps below before they compound.
15–24: Compounding. Decisions are resting on beliefs nobody can currently verify. Start with the assumptions; everything downstream depends on them.

"Where to start" lists the questions you scored highest on, with one concrete step for each. Nothing you select leaves your browser.

Going Further

What Is Epistemic Debt? — the definition, what it is not, and how it accumulates
From Epistemic Debt to Epistemic Instrumentation — building systems that surface uncertainty instead of hiding it
Measuring Epistemic Debt — what recorded tool calls reveal when you try to quantify it

Free to use and share. Please keep the attribution: Epistemic Debt Self-Audit, WBA Research, wbaconsulting.org.