Engineering Stage

ES-102 — Readiness Gate

Decide whether requirements and constraints are clear enough for ES-103 planning to begin.

Readiness Gate Transition Decision Next: Manifest

Stage
ES-102

Current page
Readiness Gate

Inputs
Requirements package

Decision
Proceed / revise

Next stage
ES-103

← Previous Outputs

Current Readiness Gate

Next → Stage Manifest

ES-102 Readiness Gate

Purpose

This readiness gate verifies that ES-102 is complete and ES-103 can begin responsibly.

Planning should not begin until requirements and constraints are clear enough to estimate, organize, sequence, and assign work. If ES-103 begins with vague requirements, planning will create fake precision.

Completion standard

You are ready to continue when each gate is satisfied or when remaining issues are explicitly recorded with a responsible follow-up path.

Gate 1 — Vision traceability

Question

Do the requirements connect back to ES-101 evidence?

Required evidence

docs/vision/

docs/requirements/requirements_overview.md

docs/requirements/traceability_notes.md

☐ Yes ☐ Needs review

Gate 2 — Functional requirements

Question

Are required system behaviors clear, bounded, and reviewable?

Required evidence

docs/requirements/functional_requirements.md

☐ Yes ☐ Needs review

Gate 3 — Nonfunctional requirements

Question

Are quality, trustworthiness, operational, security, privacy, accessibility, reliability, and governance requirements explicit?

Required evidence

docs/requirements/nonfunctional_requirements.md

☐ Yes ☐ Needs review

Gate 4 — Constraints

Question

Are solution constraints visible and specific enough to guide planning and architecture?

Required evidence

docs/requirements/constraints.md

☐ Yes ☐ Needs review

Gate 5 — Use cases or user stories

Question

Do use cases or user stories cover major stakeholder goals, meaningful alternate paths, and exception paths?

Required evidence

docs/requirements/use_cases_or_user_stories.md

☐ Yes ☐ Needs review

Gate 6 — Traceability

Question

Are major requirements connected to source evidence, constraints, stakeholder needs, use cases, and verification expectations?

Required evidence

docs/requirements/traceability_notes.md

☐ Yes ☐ Needs review

Gate 7 — Review evidence

Question

Has the requirements package been reviewed for ambiguity, conflicts, missing constraints, unverifiable claims, AI accountability, and scope alignment?

Required evidence

docs/requirements/requirements_review.md

☐ Yes ☐ Needs review

Gate 8 — AI verification

Question

If AI assistance materially shaped requirements, has the team reviewed and accepted responsibility for the final requirements?

Required evidence

AI-use statement, requirements review notes, or requirements readiness summary.

☐ Yes ☐ Not applicable ☐ Needs review

Gate 9 — Transition readiness

Question

Does the readiness summary explain why ES-103 can begin?

Required evidence

docs/requirements/requirements_readiness_summary.md

☐ Yes ☐ Needs review

Exit criteria

ES-102 is complete when requirements are clear enough to support planning, functional and nonfunctional requirements are documented, constraints are documented, use cases or user stories are documented, traceability exists, review evidence exists, AI involvement has been verified when applicable, and readiness for ES-103 is documented.

If you are not ready

Do not continue into ES-103 by hoping planning will clarify requirements. Return to the weakest artifact, revise it, and update traceability and review evidence.

If an issue cannot be resolved immediately, record it in requirements_review.md or requirements_readiness_summary.md with ownership, risk, and expected follow-up.

Common pitfall

Planning vague requirements creates fake precision. The schedule may look credible, but the underlying engineering obligations remain unstable.

Engineering insight

A readiness gate is not a ceremony. It is a decision about whether the next stage can proceed without inheriting avoidable ambiguity.

Continue to Stage Manifest

Review the ES-102 stage contract after completing the readiness gate.

Continue to Stage Manifest →