Research, prototyping and experiments¶

Owner: Research lead
Applies to: All exploratory work: spikes, prototypes, experiments and evaluations
Enforcement: Repository structure, review, graduation checklist
Related: EG-008, EG-011, EG-022, EG-024

Note

Rules marked (core) apply to every product and cannot be tailored. Other rules, and all numeric values, are proposed defaults that a product may tailor in its conformance profile (EG-001).

Purpose¶

Give exploratory work room to move quickly without letting prototypes quietly become products, and make sure findings, including negative ones, are recorded and reproducible.

Rules¶

RSH-01 Work MUST be classified as exploratory or production in the work item. Exploratory work MUST have a question to answer and a time-box.
RSH-02 Exploratory code MUST live in designated locations (prototypes/, a separate repository or proto/ branches), be clearly marked non-production and be excluded from release builds and baselines.
RSH-03 Exploratory work MAY be exempt from the coding standard details, requirement traceability and full gates. It MUST NOT be exempt from: no secrets in code, licence compliance (EG-011), data classification (EG-022), version control and a working build.
RSH-04 Prototype code MUST NOT be promoted by copying it into the product. Graduation requires re-implementation or hardening against the production guidelines, following the graduation checklist (below).
RSH-05 Each exploration MUST produce an experiment record in docs/research/: question, method, setup (versions, hardware, configuration), results, conclusion and next step. Negative results MUST be recorded.
RSH-06 Experiments MUST be reproducible: scripts and configuration versioned, data locations recorded and the environment described.
RSH-07 Each exploration MUST end with a decision: stop, extend (with reason) or graduate. Decisions affecting architecture group to an RFC or ADR (EG-008).
RSH-08 Maturity MUST be stated using the levels below, and the guidelines that apply increase with each level.
RSH-09 Prototypes MUST be reviewed at the end of their time-box. Prototypes without an owner MUST be archived after 90 days.
RSH-10 Evaluation boards, lab equipment and their configurations MUST be recorded with an owner.
RSH-11 Findings SHOULD be shared with the team at the end of each exploration (demo or short write-up).
RSH-12 AI agents MAY be used for prototyping under the same data rules. Prototype status does not relax AGT-05.

Maturity levels¶

Level	Name	Rules that apply	Exit needs
R0	Idea	None	A question and a sponsor
R1	Feasibility spike	RSH-03 minimum	Experiment record and decision
R2	Prototype	Adds coding basics, docs in repository, review	Demonstrated against stated criteria
R3	Pre-production candidate	Adds requirements, architecture and ADRs, coding standard, tests, security review	Graduation checklist passed
R4	Product	All guidelines	Normal release process (EG-021)

Graduation checklist¶

Requirements written and traced (EG-006)
Architecture reviewed against principles, ADRs recorded (EG-007, EG-008)
Code conforms to the coding standard and is reviewed (EG-013, EG-015)
Tests at required levels, and pipeline gates passing (EG-016, EG-017)
Security review and licence check completed (EG-022, EG-011)
Diagnostics and observability designed in (EG-019, EG-020)
Documentation as code (EG-004)

Compliance¶

Rule	Checked by
RSH-02	CI: release builds exclude prototype paths
RSH-04, RSH-08	Graduation review by architecture group
RSH-05	Experiment record template check in CI
RSH-09	Quarterly prototype inventory review

Checklist¶

Tick an item when it is true for your project. Rule IDs point to the detail above.

As Markdown. To copy it into an issue, a pull request or a review record:

- [ ] Work is classified as exploratory or production, with a question and a time-box (RSH-01)
- [ ] Exploratory code lives in designated locations and is excluded from release builds (RSH-02)
- [ ] Exemptions are understood and the non-negotiables are kept: no secrets, licences, data rules, version control, a working build (RSH-03)
- [ ] Prototype code is never copied into the product and the graduation checklist is used (RSH-04)
- [ ] An experiment record captures question, method, setup, results, conclusion and next step (RSH-05)
- [ ] Experiments are reproducible (RSH-06)
- [ ] Each exploration ends with a decision to stop, extend or graduate (RSH-07)
- [ ] The maturity level is stated (RSH-08)
- [ ] Prototypes are reviewed at the end of the time-box and unowned ones archived after 90 days (RSH-09)
- [ ] Lab equipment and boards are recorded with an owner (RSH-10)
- [ ] Findings are shared with the team (RSH-11)
- [ ] Agent use in prototypes follows the same boundaries (RSH-12)

Applying to personal projects and AI agents¶

Personal projects¶

Starts at the Standard profile (see personal-projects.md). This is where personal projects live. Keep a prototypes/ folder, one experiment record per spike, and a firm stop, extend or graduate decision. Never copy prototype code into the product: re-implement it against the graduation checklist.

AI agents¶

State the question and time-box before starting a spike (RSH-01).
Put spike code only under prototypes/ or a proto/ branch (RSH-02).
Record results, including negative ones, in docs/research/ using the experiment record template (RSH-05).
Do not promote prototype code into the product by copying it, propose a graduation task instead (RSH-04).
Prototype status does not relax agent boundaries (RSH-12).