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Engineering Stage

ES-102 — Stage Manifest

Define the formal contract for Requirements and Constraints.

Stage Manifest Contract Next: ES-103

ES-102 Stage Manifest

Manifest purpose

This manifest is the structured contract for ES-102. It defines the stage identity, mission, inputs, outputs, evidence, activities, completion criteria, dependencies, risks, and maintenance expectations.

Stage identity

Field Value
Stage ID ES-102
Stage Name Requirements and Constraints
Stage Family Definition and Planning
Stage Type Project evidence production
Estimated Effort 1–2 hours
Prerequisites ES-101 — Vision and Problem Definition
Previous Stage ES-101 — Vision and Problem Definition
Next Stage ES-103 — Planning and Work Breakdown
Primary Output Requirements evidence package
Evidence Family docs/requirements/
Publication Status Production-ready after rendered review

Stage mission

Translate ES-101 vision evidence into clear, bounded, traceable, and reviewable requirements and constraints that define the engineering obligations downstream stages must respect.

Primary engineering question

What must the system do, under what constraints, and what evidence makes those requirements clear, bounded, reviewable, and traceable?

Inputs

Input Required Source
Problem statement Yes docs/vision/problem_statement.md
Vision statement Yes docs/vision/vision_statement.md
Stakeholder record Yes docs/vision/stakeholders.md
Scope record Yes docs/vision/scope.md
Assumptions record Yes docs/vision/assumptions.md
Success metrics Yes docs/vision/success_metrics.md
Vision readiness summary Yes docs/vision/vision_readiness_summary.md

Outputs

Output Repository Location
Requirements overview docs/requirements/requirements_overview.md
Functional requirements docs/requirements/functional_requirements.md
Nonfunctional requirements docs/requirements/nonfunctional_requirements.md
Constraints docs/requirements/constraints.md
Use cases or user stories docs/requirements/use_cases_or_user_stories.md
Traceability notes docs/requirements/traceability_notes.md
Requirements review docs/requirements/requirements_review.md
Requirements readiness summary docs/requirements/requirements_readiness_summary.md

Required evidence

ES-102 requires the following evidence types:

  • vision-to-requirements evidence;
  • functional requirements evidence;
  • quality and trustworthiness requirements evidence;
  • constraint evidence;
  • use case or user story evidence;
  • traceability evidence;
  • review evidence;
  • AI verification evidence when applicable;
  • transition evidence into ES-103.

Activities

Activity Primary Artifact
Review ES-101 evidence requirements_overview.md
Define functional requirements functional_requirements.md
Define nonfunctional requirements nonfunctional_requirements.md
Define constraints constraints.md
Write use cases or user stories use_cases_or_user_stories.md
Build traceability notes traceability_notes.md
Review requirements package requirements_review.md
Complete readiness summary requirements_readiness_summary.md

Completion criteria

ES-102 is complete when all required requirements artifacts exist, requirements are traceable to ES-101, functional and nonfunctional requirements are reviewable, constraints are explicit, use cases or user stories support major stakeholder goals, review evidence exists, AI assistance has been verified when applicable, and ES-103 readiness is documented.

Success criteria

ES-102 succeeds when ES-103 can begin planning without guessing what the system must do, what qualities it must satisfy, what constraints shape acceptable work, what evidence supports the requirements, or what unresolved issues remain.

Dependencies

ES-102 depends on ES-101 vision evidence. Weak ES-101 evidence produces weak requirements. If ES-102 reveals a major ES-101 weakness, return to ES-101 artifacts and correct the source rather than inventing unsupported requirements.

ES-103 depends on ES-102 requirements evidence. If ES-102 is incomplete, ES-103 planning will inherit ambiguity.

Risks if skipped

Skipping ES-102 may result in planning based on vague ideas, architecture without requirements, implementation driven by assumptions, testing without acceptance expectations, governance without clear obligations, operations without trust boundaries, and AI capabilities added without accountability.

Maintenance notes

After ES-102 is accepted, update it only for broken links, rendering defects, factual corrections, accessibility fixes, doctrine changes, or platform-wide architecture changes. Do not redesign ES-102 locally if the ES-101 operational pattern remains valid.

Engineering insight

The manifest should make the stage auditable. A future reviewer should be able to determine what ES-102 was supposed to accomplish without reading every page first.

Continue to ES-103

Begin ES-103 — Planning and Work Breakdown when the readiness gate is satisfied.

Continue to ES-103 →