Stop and reallocate — at Play level when an Abort Condition trips, at Intent level when the bottleneck has moved or the bets keep failing.
Stopping is not failure. It is how the portfolio frees capacity for what works.
Stop operates on two paths: continuous (Abort condition trips inside the Cell) and formal (ratified at the Forum or Direction Review).
The decision hierarchy on slide 54 of the v20 deck shows this verdict applied differently at each level. Each row below is one row from that table.
By level
Key principles
- Stopping is not failure — it is how the portfolio frees capacity.
- Two paths: continuous (Abort condition) and formal (Forum).
- Integrity Steward has veto authority on any risk breach.
- The hardest discipline in the system is the willingness to stop on time.