Files
acdl/docs/scope.md
T
Jon Chery e891496163 docs(P2): PDLC-upstream scope + RACI matrix + 2 deck slides (REQ-215, REQ-216, REQ-228)
REQ-215: RACI matrix in PROJECT.md (§ RACI Matrix) + docs/raci.md
(citizen-dev-facing copy). 3 roles (Citizen Developer / Platform / Release
Management co-owned). 7 work categories × R/A/C/I. Compliance-standard
equivalence note: any upstream source (AI agent, SDLC, dev platform) is
subject to the same gate.

REQ-216: PDLC-upstream scope in PROJECT.md (§ Scope) + docs/scope.md.
Promotes Core Tenet #2 + Anti-Goal #1 from buried tenets to a dedicated,
unmissable scope statement.

REQ-228: 2 new deck slides (17 Scope + 18 RACI) → 20 slides. Arc preview
updated. Talking points synced. HTML + PPTX re-rendered (21 PPTX slides).

---ci---
project: acdl
phase: 2
milestone: v1.18
status: execute
requirements:
  covered: [REQ-215, REQ-216, REQ-228]
  partial: []
---/ci---
2026-08-06 15:07:10 +00:00

2.7 KiB

Scope — Nova is Downstream of PDLC

Source of truth: .ciagent/PROJECT.md § Scope (v1.18, REQ-216). This page is the citizen-developer-facing copy.

The Boundary

The Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC) is upstream of Nova. The PDLC includes:

  • Product backlog / roadmap planning
  • Code authorship (via AI coding agent, IDE, or agentic SDLC platform)
  • Sprint planning / issue tracking
  • Application business logic
  • IDE workflows / developer experience

Nova never penetrates the PDLC. Nova's domain is infrastructure + delivery only.

What Nova Does

Nova governs the downstream half:

  • Contract ingestion — the validated entry point
  • Submission-readiness gate — what is acceptable to start (schemas/submission-readiness.schema.json)
  • Policy enforcement — the confidence signal, Checkov, tagging
  • Cloud resource lifecycle — Terraform plan/apply, state, IAM
  • Environment progression — dev (autonomous) → qa (QA attestation) → prod (SRE attestation) → dr (SRE attestation)
  • Immutable audit + attestation — the Decision Ledger, the evidence stream, the HITL gates

The Integration Point

Integration between the PDLC and Nova is only through the validated, published contract boundary:

PDLC (upstream)                         Nova (downstream)
─────────────────                       ─────────────────
product backlog                         contract ingestion
code authorship (AI agent / IDE / SDLC) → submission-readiness gate
sprint planning                         → policy enforcement
application business logic              → cloud resource lifecycle
                                        → environment progression (dev→qa→prod→dr)
                                        → immutable audit + attestation

The citizen developer's AI coding agent, an upstream agentic SDLC platform, or any upstream development platform may all produce submissions. The source does not matter — all are subject to the same compliance standards. Nova validates the submission, not the author.

What Nova is Not

  • Not an upstream development platform (no product backlogs, IDE, code authorship).
  • Not a general-purpose AI agent platform (autonomy is narrow, bounded by policy envelopes).
  • Not a legacy infrastructure bridge (no VMs/bare metal/OS).
  • Not a permissive delivery highway (no escape hatches past confidence or HITL).
  • Not a mutable audit log (VCS history ≠ regulatory evidence).

These anti-goals (from docs/vision.md §7 and Core Tenet #2) are promoted here from buried tenets to an unmissable scope statement.