“Are we closed?” needs an answer checkable by anyone, not a judgement call by the most optimistic person in the room. Readiness is four conditions, all true at the signed-off revision. Three out of four is not closed; it is three-quarters of the evidence with the risk concentrated in exactly the missing quarter.
Condition | What it means | How it is shown |
|---|---|---|
No unexplained findings | Every structural finding is fixed or carries a jointly approved waiver | Run-to-run reconciliation: each finding traces to a fix or a waiver reference |
Every waiver reviewed | Each waiver has its evidence, joint approval, scope, and expiry | Waiver list with no incomplete rows and no expired revisions |
Constraints reviewed | Every exception and bound is checked against the final inventory | Constraint review record at the signed-off revision, diffs reviewed |
Dynamic checks run | Protocol assertions, injection checks, and formal results are in at the signed-off revision | Regression record: what ran, on which revision, with what result |
Each condition has a mechanical show-me: a reconciliation report, a waiver table, a review record, a regression log. If producing any of the four takes more than an hour, the process has drifted and the answer is “not yet” regardless of what anyone believes. Readiness you cannot demonstrate on demand is not readiness.
Partial credit is still useful information: it says exactly what remains. “Closed except dynamic checks on the new FIFO” is a schedule statement with an owner, while “basically closed” is a mood. The gate records the former and rejects the latter.
No. The fourth condition is unmet, and the ECO touched exactly the structures dynamic checks protect. The answer is “closed except dynamic checks”, with an owner and a date.
Because risk concentrates in the missing quarter: the unreviewed waivers, the unchecked constraints, or the unrun checks are precisely where the unknown defects live. Partial readiness names the remainder; it never rounds up.