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Packaging lanes: Startup, Scale, Regulated

This document defines the three product packaging lanes used by the top-tier program.

1) Startup lane

Ideal for: small teams optimizing for speed with essential safeguards.

Minimum controls

  • Canonical release confidence path enabled (gate fast, gate release, doctor)
  • Machine-readable artifact retention for every run
  • Named release owner for every release decision

Command path (baseline)

python -m sdetkit gate fast --format json --stable-json --out build/gate-fast.json
python -m sdetkit gate release --format json --out build/release-preflight.json
python -m sdetkit doctor --format json --out build/doctor.json

Success KPI emphasis

  • first-time-success onboarding rate
  • median release decision time

2) Scale lane

Ideal for: multi-team organizations requiring repeatability and governance signals.

Minimum controls

  • Startup lane controls, plus:
  • Team-level quality gate ownership matrix
  • Weekly KPI review in program dashboard
  • Compatibility/deprecation policy enforced for CLI + artifact schema

Command path (baseline + governance checks)

python -m sdetkit gate fast --format json --stable-json --out build/gate-fast.json
python -m sdetkit gate release --format json --out build/release-preflight.json
python -m sdetkit doctor --format json --out build/doctor.json
python scripts/check_canonical_path_drift.py --format json

Success KPI emphasis

  • failed release gate frequency
  • mean time to triage first failure

3) Regulated lane

Ideal for: organizations needing auditability, documented change control, and escalation contracts.

Minimum controls

  • Scale lane controls, plus:
  • Support severity model with response SLOs
  • Documented deprecation windows and migration runbooks
  • Release checklist evidence attached to every version cut

Command path (baseline + governance + evidence hardening)

python -m sdetkit gate fast --format json --stable-json --out build/gate-fast.json
python -m sdetkit gate release --format json --out build/release-preflight.json
python -m sdetkit doctor --format json --out build/doctor.json
python scripts/check_canonical_path_drift.py --format json
python scripts/generate_artifact_contract_index.py

Success KPI emphasis

  • rollback rate
  • docs-to-adoption conversion

Lane selection guidance

Choose the smallest lane that still meets your risk and compliance obligations.

If your constraint is primarily… Start in lane
Fast onboarding + value proof Startup
Cross-team consistency Scale
Audit readiness + strict escalation Regulated

WS1 execution acceptance checklist

Use this checklist when executing Point 2 (WS1 packaging execution) in the CTO workflow.

  • Startup/Scale/Regulated lane definitions are published.
  • Each lane includes a command path and minimum controls.
  • KPI emphasis is declared per lane.
  • Role quickstarts are linked for execution by owner role.

Evidence links: