Cadence, or operating rhythm, is the standing schedule of short, disciplined reviews in which owners report what has moved, surface the single blocker most in their way, and leave with a decision. It is the heartbeat that keeps execution moving between formal governance points.
The purpose of cadence is to make decisions, not to gather status. A rhythm that only collects updates — "more status meetings" — adds overhead without changing the trajectory of the work. Cadence is distinct from governance: governance defines who holds which decision rights, while cadence is the recurring rhythm in which those decisions actually get made.
