Jon Chery
b054849a99
P4 (Wave 3, docs) — REQ-186, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 204, 210, 211, 212, 213 New docs: - docs/METRICS.md — canonical KPI catalog (grounded/derived/deferred) - docs/metrics/*.md — 13 per-KPI definition-of-success docs (D-127) - docs/METRICS_DEFERRED_ROADMAP.md — 8 deferred metrics + hot-path plan + re-eval triggers (REQ-210) - docs/NO_HUMANS_THESIS.md — thesis defensibility brief (REQ-213) New tools: - core/metrics/trust_snapshot.py — 5 trust metrics + chain-integrity verdict + snapshot hash (REQ-211) - scripts/check_north_star_diff.sh — CI check for NORTH_STAR strategic section changes (REQ-204) Modified: - .ciagent/config.json — strategic_direction_file: .ciagent/NORTH_STAR.md (REQ-186) ---ci--- project: acdl phase: 4 milestone: v1.17 status: execute ---/ci---
67 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
67 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
# Nova — The No-Humans Infrastructure Platform: Thesis Defensibility Brief
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> v1.17 — Strategic Direction, Leadership Metrics & Unified Story (REQ-213)
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> Generated: 2026-08-04
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## The thesis
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Nova is the autonomous infrastructure layer that lets product teams
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ship without engaging an operator, and lets executives trust the AI
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not because it never fails but because every decision is captured,
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scored, and accountable.
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**Autonomy in operations; human at stage gates.** The operator is
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removed from the loop of normal operations. Human attestation remains
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required at stage gates — QA signs off for production, SRE greenlights
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based on operational readiness. The absence of an operator is never
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the absence of a record.
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## Grounded proof (measurable today)
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| Proof | Source | Status |
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|-------|--------|--------|
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| 18 capabilities verified, 4 honestly skipped (0 broken) | `REGRESSION_REPORT.json` | grounded |
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| Decision Ledger captures 100% of AI decisions with outcome backfill | `metrics/decision_ledger.db` | grounded (this milestone) |
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| Attestation Coverage: 100% of prod/dr promotions attested by a human | `hitl_gates.py` + outbox `approver_*` | grounded |
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| Confidence-gated policy engine (not an LLM) — 6 weighted inputs, band outcome | `confidence_signal.py` | grounded |
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| 8-concern attestation matrix with separation-of-duties on prod | `attestation_matrix.py` + `separation_of_duties.py` | grounded |
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| Pre-apply cost estimates (Infracost, offline) | `infracost_adapter.py` | grounded |
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| Test suite passes (~656 tests) | `metrics/test-results.xml` | grounded |
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## Deferred proof (measurable when blocking decisions lift)
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| Proof | Blocking Decision | Unblock Requirement |
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|-------|-------------------|---------------------|
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| Touchless Resolution Rate ≥99% across production estates | 0 consumers today | Pilot estate activation |
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| Live infrastructure health (ECS, ALB, RPS) | D-096 | Live AWS re-provisioning |
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| Onboarding funnel: requested → granted | D-113/D-114/D-119 | Auto-grant implementation |
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| Drift auto-reversal rate ≥95% | D-096 + no scheduler | Drift detection scheduler |
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| Predictive vs reactive ratio ≥3:1 | future emitter | ML anomaly-forecasting service |
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| Tamper-evident ledger checkpoints (S3 Object Lock + JWS) | D-083 | Audit ledger build-out |
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## Anti-claims (what Nova is NOT)
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1. **Nova's "AI" is NOT an LLM planner.** It is a confidence-gated
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policy engine (confidence_signal + HITL gate). The Decision Ledger
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captures this real decision path — not a fabricated "AI agent" that
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doesn't exist yet (D-122). When an LLM planner is added, it will emit
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richer `alternatives_considered` without schema breakage.
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2. **Nova does NOT remove humans from accountability.** Only from
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operations. Every stage-gate promotion (qa/prod/dr) requires a human
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attestation recorded with approver identity, separation-of-duties
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check, and the 8-concern evidence matrix (NORTH_STAR Anti-Goal #3).
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3. **Nova is NOT for legacy, untagged, or freeform infrastructure.** It
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requires Terraform-managed, policy-aligned, fully-tagged inputs
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(NORTH_STAR Anti-Goal #4).
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4. **Nova does NOT fabricate metrics.** Every metric is grounded (cites
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a source file), derived (documented formula), or deferred (cites a
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blocking decision ID). No fabricated numbers in any deck slide or
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METRICS.md entry (the "no fabrication" hard constraint).
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## What "won" looks like
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By month 18, Nova is the layer enterprise leadership points to when
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they say *"we don't have an infrastructure ops team anymore, and the
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audit trail is stronger than it ever was"* — and it is the default
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substrate their AI engineering teams reach for first when an agent needs
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to deploy. |