Version: 1.0.0
Purpose
The Governance Checklist provides a standardized review process for determining whether a project has established a sufficient engineering foundation before advancing beyond the Governance phase.
The checklist helps ensure governance artifacts are complete, consistent, approved, and aligned with the business objectives established during Discovery.
The AI should complete this checklist before recommending progression to the Architecture phase.
Governance Readiness Review
Every item below should be reviewed and confirmed before Governance is considered complete.
Discovery
☐ Discovery Summary has been completed.
☐ Business objectives are clearly defined.
☐ Target users have been identified.
☐ Business problems have been documented.
☐ Success criteria have been established.
☐ Business constraints have been documented.
☐ Discovery has been approved by the human.
Governance Artifacts
Source of Truth
☐ Created.
☐ Complete.
☐ Approved.
Product Bible
☐ Created.
☐ Complete.
☐ Approved.
Product Vocabulary
☐ Created.
☐ Complete.
☐ Approved.
Product Requirements
☐ Created.
☐ Complete.
☐ Approved.
Data Dictionary
☐ Created.
☐ Complete.
☐ Approved.
Information Architecture
☐ Created.
☐ Complete.
☐ Approved.
UI/UX Bible
☐ Created.
☐ Complete.
☐ Approved.
Database Architecture
☐ Created.
☐ Complete.
☐ Approved.
Build Master Plan
☐ Created.
☐ Complete.
☐ Approved.
Decision Log
☐ Created.
☐ Initial project decisions recorded.
☐ Current.
Consistency Review
☐ Product terminology is consistent across all governance artifacts.
☐ Business objectives remain consistent.
☐ User roles remain consistent.
☐ Requirements align with Discovery.
☐ Architecture assumptions remain valid.
☐ No conflicting information has been identified.
☐ The Source of Truth accurately reflects the current project.
Engineering Readiness
☐ Major project risks have been identified.
☐ Known assumptions have been documented.
☐ Dependencies have been identified.
☐ Project scope is clearly understood.
☐ MVP scope has been established.
☐ Deferred functionality has been identified.
Human Approval
☐ Governance artifacts have been reviewed.
☐ Questions have been answered.
☐ Corrections have been incorporated.
☐ Governance package has been approved.
AI Validation
Before recommending advancement to Architecture, the AI should confirm:
☐ The business is sufficiently understood.
☐ Governance artifacts are internally consistent.
☐ Major project risks have been identified.
☐ Required documentation has been completed.
☐ Human approval has been received.
Completion
The Governance phase is complete when:
- Discovery has been approved.
- All required governance artifacts have been completed.
- Documentation is internally consistent.
- Major engineering risks have been identified.
- The human has approved the governance package.
Once these conditions have been satisfied, the AI may recommend advancing to the Architecture phase.
Guiding Principle
The purpose of Governance is not to produce documentation.
The purpose of Governance is to establish a complete engineering foundation that enables Architecture, Planning, Implementation, Validation, and Evolution to proceed with confidence.
A project that leaves Governance with unanswered questions will almost always spend more time correcting mistakes during implementation than it saved by moving forward early.