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Achievement: Pair Extraordinairex3Achievement: QuickdrawAchievement: Pull Sharkx3Achievement: YOLO

Achievements

Achievement: Pair Extraordinairex3Achievement: QuickdrawAchievement: Pull Sharkx3Achievement: YOLO

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WhatsYourWhy/README.md

Justin Shank

Operational systems. Deterministic decision tooling. Infrastructure that holds.

I build systems that are meant to work — not impress.

I’ve led teams, owned outcomes, and seen what breaks when tools are built for demos instead of reality. This profile is a working record of systems designed for pressure: inspectable, versioned, and explainable.

Repos Writing X

Contents

What this GitHub is for

I ship practical systems and structured research for:

  • Turning noisy inputs into structured decisions.
  • Reducing operational friction.
  • Preserving context across handoffs.
  • Making reasoning visible and auditable.

If a system can’t be inspected, versioned, and explained, it doesn’t ship.

Start Here

  • If you want deterministic decision infrastructure with explainable outputs, start with Hardstop.
  • If you want a framework for auditable execution and replay, start with Determinant and The Temporal Gradient.
  • If you want practical local-first utilities for messy real-world inputs, start with Strainer CLI.

Selected Work

Project What it does Status Maturity Primary focus
Hardstop Deterministic supply-chain risk engine with recall, explainability, and reason-coded outputs. Active Production-oriented Ops tooling
Determinant Structured runtime for executing programs with auditable decision paths. Active Beta Runtime systems
The Temporal Gradient Bounded time and memory modeling framework for reliable simulation and replay. Experimental Prototype Simulation
Alert-Axolotl-Evo Evolutionary alert logic experiment to surface robust signal patterns. Experimental Prototype Signal discovery
Strainer CLI Local-first text → structure conversion for cleaner operational inputs. Active Beta Data shaping
Cognitive Glow Knowledge visibility tooling for Obsidian to make reasoning and context discoverable. Maintained Beta Knowledge systems

Some projects are practical utilities. Some are structured experiments. All are intentional.

How I Build

  • Define the win condition before writing code.
  • Design for failure modes, not just happy paths.
  • Prefer clarity over cleverness.
  • Ship in small, measurable slices.
  • Treat documentation as part of the system.

Evidence of Impact

  • Public portfolio of operational systems and structured experiments built in the open.
  • Repositories prioritize inspectable logic, explicit assumptions, and auditable outputs.
  • Tooling is designed for pressure-tested workflows where handoffs and traceability matter.
  • Writing and project docs focus on decision quality, reproducibility, and execution discipline.

Work & Writing

Ways to work together

  • Advisory sessions on strategy-to-execution operating systems.
  • System design collaboration for deterministic, auditable workflows.
  • Tooling reviews for reliability, traceability, and decision quality.

Best channel: LinkedIn DM or email via https://shankstrategy.com. Typical response window: 2 business days.

For a live activity snapshot, see the pinned repositories and contribution graph on the profile page: https://github.com/WhatsYourWhy

Pinned Loading

  1. strainer-cli strainer-cli Public

    Strainer is a small, local first CLI that converts .txt and .md files into structured summaries, tags, and metrics—entirely offline. It’s built for pipelines and note systems, not dashboards.

    Python 2 1

  2. Hardstop Hardstop Public

    Hardstop is a deterministic supply chain risk decision engine. It monitors external sources (RSS feeds, government APIs, alerts) and generates actionable risk alerts by linking events to your opera…

    Python 1

  3. The-Temporal-Gradient The-Temporal-Gradient Public

    an internal time accumulator (\tau) whose rate is modulated by salience load (\Psi), and a memory strength variable (S) that decays over internal time and may reconsolidate on access.

    Python

  4. journey-log journey-log Public

    A simple and stylish to-do list application with a touch of wisdom and customizable themes.

    JavaScript

  5. Thresholds Thresholds Public

    > “Some repos are doors. > Some doors are closed for a reason.”

    HTML

  6. Alert-Axolotl-Evo Alert-Axolotl-Evo Public

    Alert Axolotl Evo is a deterministic, gamified genetic programming system that evolves.

    Python