Updated 2026-10-26

Decisions record

A dated list of the decisions that shaped the work methodology and are now in force.

Decisions that shaped the methodology, newest first. Each is a rule in force, not a proposal.

2026-10-25

• Phase replaces "work family". The grouping of work types is called a phase. Work type is kept, and the phase is derived from it rather than stored on each document.

2026-10-24

• Re-parenting is allowed when a rule requires it. An activity may be moved to another project whenever the master rule or the taxonomy requires it, recorded as a manual allocation. The earlier forward-only restriction no longer applies.
• One stage vocabulary. The five guided stages (intake, route, draft for approval, build, iterate) are the only stage list. Earlier longer sequences are mapped onto them.
• No separate program charter kind. A scope document with a program level, plus a program template, serves as the charter.
• The name "recommendation" stays.
• Existing files move to catalog kinds. Closed note and report files are renamed to document kinds, so "forward-only" no longer holds for them. The mapping table comes first, then renames and link repair in batches, with a dry-run count before each batch.
• Front matter has a common core plus per-kind fields, checked for new files only. state stays authored.
• First process catalog is five core processes: research-to-recommendation, write-document, build-feature, migrate and build-kb-topic. The rest enter by the adding rule, and one prior improvised request is enough to add a process.
• The process is recorded on the shell and on every document, and a process that spans two phases is a handoff between two processes.
• All process terms are minted as Proposed after a check against existing terms.
• Narrowing overlapping generations: the three-spine mapping is approved. Rows with no clear home stay on a confirm list before anything is applied.
• One advisory project shell is tombstoned with the other empty shells after the link sweep.

2026-10-23

• Knowledge document kinds: light reorganisation. home and tracker are generated; toc is kept with front matter; model is defined narrowly.
• CRM link fields: person, organization, a reserved deal and crm_role.
• The system proposes the process and you confirm (see How intake routes).
• Narrowing groups General, empty shells, micro-programs and client one-offs are approved as tabled. Near-duplicate names are merged into the larger Active shell.
• A single edit rule for work types and phases. Their values, families and process fields change together in one schema edit; blank or low-confidence work types are proposed to you as a list, never filled automatically.