Before/After RTT — Visualization Exercise

Module: Research Toolbox
Visual: visuals/before_after_rtt.svg
Focus: Forecast vs Actuals • RTT/1 • RTT/2 • RTT/3

1. Warm‑up: Just describe the picture#

Open: visuals/before_after_rtt.svg.

Task: In your own words, describe:

Left column (Before RTT):
- What is being emphasized?
- How do forecasts, narratives, and policy relate?
Right column (After RTT):
- What changes once RTT/1, RTT/2, RTT/3 are added?
- How does “structural health & planning” differ from “policy posturing”?

Write 3–5 sentences. Stay descriptive, not opinionated.

Look at the top row on both sides.

Prompt:

List two risks of relying mainly on forecast narratives.
List two advantages of grounding analysis in actuals (RTT/1).
Complete this sentence:

“RTT/1 changes the conversation from ______ to ______.”

Keep answers short (bullet points are fine).

Middle‑upper row on the right: “RTT/2 — REGIME CHECK”.

Questions:

What does it mean for a system to be:
- stable
- transitional
- divergent
Why is “transitional ≠ collapsing” an important distinction?
Give one example (any domain) where people might misread a transitional regime as collapse.

Middle‑lower row on the right: “RTT/3 — COHERENCE LAYERS”.

Tasks:

Define, in your own words:
- surface coherence
- structural coherence
- resonance coherence
The diagram notes: “transfer systems = low resonance”.
- What does that suggest about how people feel vs how the system actually behaves?

Using the whole diagram, complete:

Before RTT, the system is mostly driven by:
- forecasts / narratives / perception / ______
After RTT, the system is mostly driven by:
- actuals / regime literacy / coherence / ______
In one sentence, explain how RTT/1, RTT/2, and RTT/3 work together in this picture.

Write 2–3 sentences:

“One way I could use this Before/After RTT pattern in my own research is…”

You do not need to be specific about your field—just show you understand the pattern.