Maturity State Ladder

Preamble

Maturity State Ladder keeps Factory from calling motion progress. Runs, works, tests pass, quality passes, polished, launch-ready, launched, and landed are different claims.

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Running Is A Weak Claim

An agent can finish a task, a build can pass, and a dashboard can glow while the venture has learned nothing. The ladder forces every artifact to say what kind of finished it means.

Running proves execution. Passing tests proves a narrow contract. Launch-ready proves the package can face users. Landed proves contact produced a useful outcome. Each step carries a different burden.

The Factory becomes safer when the status label makes overclaiming harder.