Body of Knowledge · Glossary
Default gradient
The tilt of a distributed organisation toward wherever its decision-makers sit. Decisions, information, stretch work and promotions flow to the centre without anyone intending it. Design counters it; reminders never do.
Where the standard develops it
- DHWDistributed and Hybrid Work
- CC-3Inclusive practices and equitable opportunity distributionWho gets the stretch work, the visibility, and the benefit of the doubt.
Related terms
- Location-neutral
- Decision-making and information flows designed so that a team four time zones away has the same access as one down the corridor.
- Proximity bias
- Opportunity and promotion going to the people a leader sees, regardless of performance.
- Affinity bias
- Favouring people who resemble oneself in evaluation.
- Glue work
- The coordinating, documenting and unblocking work that holds a team together and rarely shows up in the artifacts a promotion process values.
- Office housework
- Necessary, low-visibility tasks such as notes, scheduling and cover, which fall along predictable and inequitable lines unless they are distributed deliberately.
Cite this definition
Chicago, BibTeX and licence →Engineering Management Academy. (2026). Default gradient. In Engineering Management Academy Body of Knowledge (Version 3.1, GLO.default-gradient). https://www.engineeringmanagement.academy/body-of-knowledge/glossary/default-gradient