Scope

Use this model after product intent is supplied. The documentation skeleton does not itself create product scope.

Ticket hierarchy

Idea → Epic → Feature → Task

Ideas preserve provenance. Epics group intended outcomes. Features define user-visible value and acceptance outcomes. Architecture owns implementation Tasks. Status rolls upward only through complete, validated required-child relationships.

Delivery lifecycle

Ideas, Epics, and Features use:

IN_BACKLOG → IN_DESIGN → IN_DELIVERY → TO_BE_RELEASED → DONE

Tasks use:

IN_BACKLOG → IN_PROGRESS → TO_BE_RELEASED → DONE

CANCELLED requires an explicit authorized decision. BLOCKED is an orthogonal flag with a reason and evidence, not a lifecycle status. Approval gates, Kanban flow, release readiness, deployment, and acceptance evidence remain separate dimensions.

Exact and derived authority

• Task transitions and direct no-child decisions use status_source: EXACT.
• Product-item roll-ups use status_source: DERIVED and complete required-child sets.
• A record with no required children cannot derive TO_BE_RELEASED or DONE.
• A cancelled child never counts as done and is excluded only through an explicit scope decision.

Approval gates

Only a human Maze Next Gen team member may approve an Epic or Feature for solution, approve a Feature for implementation, finalize version allocation, or admit an exact Task to Kanban Focus InBacklog. CI, merges, documentation, silence, or agent output are not approval.

Evidence and change flow

Every canonical change records a stable ID, actor, authority, UTC date, previous and target state when applicable, conditions, and durable evidence. Update canonical YAML, generated indexes, Overview, Roadmap, Board, and Focus together, then run pnpm data:index, pnpm validate, pnpm typecheck, and pnpm build.