CDC / RDC · All levels

CDC Waiver Policy: Comparison Matrix

Comparison Matrix for CDC Waiver Policy.

Comparison matrix

Aggressive waivers reduce schedule pressure but increase silicon risk.

diagram

+------------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
| Approach         | Strength       | Weakness       | Best when      |
+------------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
| Strict waive     | low risk       | more fixes     | safety critical |
| Balanced         | delivery fit   | review overhead | mainstream products |
| Loose waive      | faster         | escape risk    | non-critical prototype |
| Escalate         | shared ownership | meeting load   | ambiguous evidence |
+------------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+

When to choose each approach

Select approach by silicon risk, not only schedule urgency

Interview traps

Global waiver spray
Unproven protocol assumptions

Evidence comparison

diagram

CDC/RDC EVIDENCE MATRIX — CDC Waiver Policy

+-----------------------+----------------------------+----------------------------+---------------------------+
| Evidence              | Tells you                  | Does not prove             | Next action               |
+-----------------------+----------------------------+----------------------------+---------------------------+
| structural report     | crossing topology class    | protocol liveness          | add assertions/formal     |
| reset map             | release dependencies       | dynamic startup behavior   | run reset stress tests    |
| formal proof          | bounded safety/liveness    | real firmware sequence     | correlate with simulation |
| simulation stress     | observed mode behavior     | full state-space closure   | target unhit corners      |
| waiver log            | accepted residual risk     | technical correctness      | periodic revalidation     |
+-----------------------+----------------------------+----------------------------+---------------------------+

CDC/RDC deep dive

Signoff is an evidence governance problem across teams.

Concept diagram

diagram

CDC SIGNOFF LOOP

analysis -> triage -> fix/waive -> review gate -> dashboard

Metric graph

diagram

CRITICAL OPEN COUNT

week1 34
week2 22
week3 10
week4 0

Reports and artifacts

critical by owner
waiver quality
review gate status
closure trend

Mini case study

Pass rates improved while critical waivers aged out of policy; dashboard exposed hidden risk.

Debug branches

Separate quality from quantity metrics
enforce waiver expiry
run gate checklists consistently

Senior review question

Ask: what evidence proves this risk is closed for silicon, not just tool-clean?

Key takeaways

State crossing class, assumptions, and owner with every issue.
Run structural and dynamic regressions after each fix.

Common pitfalls

Treating all warnings as equivalent risk.
Waiving issues without containment evidence.
Skipping reset and reconvergence stress after CDC fixes.

Principal CDC/RDC review addendum

Waivers are controlled risk acceptances and must include mechanism justification, containment evidence, and ownership for periodic revalidation.

Metric: open critical waivers, stale waiver age, waiver quality score

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