P_00001 — Operating process lives in software only its author can change

One testable operational mismatch: the rules the business runs on are expressed as code rather than as configuration, so the cost of changing how the business operates is the cost of development rather than the cost of the decision.

Problem ID	Name	Solution IDs	Statement type	Status
P_00001	Operating process lives in software only its author can change	S_00001	market_hypothesis	draft

kind: problem_catalog
schema_version: 1
problems:
  - id: P_00001
    solutionsIds:
      - S_00001
    priority: 40
    name: 'Operating process lives in software only its author can change'
    status: approved
    statement_type: market_hypothesis
    applies_to_icp_ids: []
    situation: >-
      A company has run its orders, pricing, and production schedule on
      internally built software for years, and the people who built it are the
      people who still maintain it.
    operational_mismatch: >-
      The rules the business operates by are expressed as code rather than as
      configuration, so changing a rule requires whoever can edit the code. The
      cost and the delay of a change are set by development capacity rather than
      by the decision itself, and the behaviour that has accumulated is
      documented only in the software.
    possible_consequences:
      - 'An operating improvement is deferred because it needs development time rather than a decision.'
      - >-
        A replacement is scoped against behaviour nobody has written down, so
        scope gaps surface during design rather than before it.
      - >-
        The company depends on a small number of people to change how it
        operates, and that dependency is not visible on any org chart.
      - >-
        Data held in the internal system may be difficult to extract on the terms
        a replacement requires.
    observable_signals:
      - 'The company describes one of its systems of record as something it built itself.'
      - 'The system is named by its technology or its age rather than by a vendor.'
      - >-
        A replacement is in scope design and the company reports unresolved
        uncertainty about whether the new system can reproduce current behaviour.
      - 'Rule changes are described as requests to a person rather than as configuration.'
    disconfirming_signals:
      - >-
        Every system that owns operating rules is commercial, and the company
        can list the rules it configures without development help.
      - 'Internal staff change operating rules directly, and the change history shows it.'
      - >-
        The internally built system is confined to reporting, while orders,
        scheduling, and pricing sit in a commercial system.
      - 'The company has documentation of its operating rules independent of the code.'
    confirmation_questions: []
    evidence_requirement: >-
      A named internally built system, roughly how long it has run, and at least
      one specific change the company chose not to make because of what it would
      have cost to build.
    evidence_ids: []
    prohibited_claims:
      - 'That a named incumbent or replacement system cannot export or expose its data.'
      - "That the company's current software is failing, unstable, or unsupported."
      - 'That a replacement will be faster, cheaper, or lower risk than the path already chosen.'
      - 'Any quantified development cost, delay, or headcount figure.'