Experiments, kept on their own shelf.
A controlled place for prototypes, technical notes and emerging work — with a hard line between what is running in production and what is merely interesting.
The distinction this division will not blur.
Production
Built, running, accountable
Deployed and operated. Has an owner, an audit trail, a defined failure mode, and a tested way back. Somebody is responsible when it breaks.
- Named operator
- Instrumented and observable
- Reversal path exercised, not assumed
- Documented
Experimental
Under investigation, may not ship
Prototypes, technical notes, lines of enquiry. Permanently labelled. Interesting is not the same as ready, and the gap between them is where credibility goes to die.
- No production dependency
- No availability implied
- May be abandoned without notice
- Never cited as a capability
An experiment that starts being described as a capability is how a technology company loses the room. It only has to happen once, so the two are kept on separate shelves with the labels facing out.
The index.
When entries appear, each will carry its classification, the date it was last touched, and an explicit statement of whether anything depends on it. A note that goes quiet for a year will be marked dormant rather than left to look current.