Dual-run parity harness — product research (“the quality-control bench”)
Goal: Full critical product research for the program’s flagship build — the dual-run parity harness. Decide (per angle, decisively) between build / limited MVP / OSS-foundation / buy / integrate / partner / process-change / pivot / abandon, and produce the PRD. The BUILD-flagship verdict from plans/001 is the input to attack, not the conclusion to defend.
Status: Research complete (2026-07-19) — executive-recommendation.md landed: BUILD, limited MVP on OSS foundation, pivoted shape (money gate partnered to Zaruba’s oracle plane; recorded replay re-scoped to functional/long-tail/DARK parity; two verdict tiers). Awaiting Robert’s acceptance; next action = E1 (Zaruba boundary conversation) + E2 (forex-ng boot PoC).
Trigger: Robert, 2026-07-18: comprehensive product research for the harness, pm:brainstorm → pm:discovery → pm:write-prd → pm:pre-mortem sequence, internal-product scoping allowed.
Read order
| # | Doc | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 00-context-brief | Shared ground truth + terminology for all docs |
| 1 | initial-recommendation | Pre-research expert opinion (Fable) — the hypothesis under attack |
| 2 | research | Brainstorm, problem discovery, evidence classes, advisory board, steelman |
| 3 | competitive-analysis | Direct/indirect/substitute solutions, comparison matrix |
| 4 | open-source-analysis | OSS foundation candidates, classified |
| 5 | journey | Stakeholders + journeys (agent, builder, auditor paths) |
| 6 | user-stories | Stories by persona and journey stage |
| 7 | ux-ui | CLI/report/evidence-bundle experience spec |
| 8 | made-to-stick | Internal narrative (SUCCESs), scoped for internal product |
| 9 | north-star | Strategy, North Star metric + metric tree |
| 10 | architecture | Kernel/lab/adapter architecture, ADRs, diagrams |
| 11 | build-vs-buy | 8-option comparison, specific recommendation |
| 12 | prd | The PRD (MVP = smallest credible assumption-testing product) |
| 13 | pre-mortem | Failure modes, kill/pivot triggers |
| 14 | validation-plan | Riskiest assumptions + cheapest disproving tests |
| 15 | executive-recommendation | Final verdict (Fable), five-advisor summary, founder questions |
Out of scope
- Implementation (follows as its own plan once the PRD is accepted).
- Zaruba-lane decisions: Orders scope, oracle internals, traffic-shifting machinery ownership (researched as boundary questions only).
- Fleet monitor / work-ledger / triage products (plans of their own; interfaces referenced here).
Cross-references
| Path | What |
|---|---|
plans/001-factory-apps-validation/ |
Portfolio decision that promoted the harness to flagship |
analysis/legacy/SYNTHESIS.md |
Legacy estate evidence (EOL stacks, MBUS, hubs) |
analysis/monorepo-development/ASSESSMENT.md |
Gap list naming the missing harness |
research/02-web-research.md |
Verified agentic-refactoring case evidence |
Run evidence
Produced by a Fable-orchestrated agent workflow (discovery + writers + audit), spawned-agents lane ($0, Claude Code session), 2026-07-18/19. Workflow wf_d5136910-64b: 28 agents (6 discovery, 13 writers, 3 adversarial auditors, 6 fixers), 27 done / 1 error (greenfield-recon agent died on structured-output return AFTER writing its notes; a follow-up enrichment agent folded its findings back into architecture/prd/journey), ~3.07M subagent tokens, 493 tool calls, ~39 min wall clock. Models: Sonnet (discovery, most writers, fixers), Opus (research/architecture/build-vs-buy/prd writers + auditors), Fable (orchestration, initial + executive recommendations, final audit). Audit pass: 9 findings fixed (DONE-row numbering convergence, citation mismatches, threshold consistency); fabrication auditor returned zero findings after web-spot-checking the highest-risk external claims.