| name | research-assessment |
| description | Use this skill when evaluating research projects, POCs, experiments, or prototypes for production readiness. Provides the "What Did We Prove?" framework, production readiness checklist, and gap analysis matrix for systematic research evaluation.
|
| version | 0.1.0 |
Research Assessment
Systematically evaluate research artifacts to determine production readiness.
When to Use
- Evaluating a POC before committing to production build
- Assessing what an experiment actually proved vs assumed
- Identifying gaps between prototype and production requirements
- Creating readiness checklists for stakeholder review
- Analyzing ADRs for implementation implications
Core Framework: "What Did We Prove?"
Before planning production work, separate fact from assumption:
Validated (Evidence Exists)
Claims with concrete evidence:
- Test results that passed
- Benchmarks with data
- User feedback collected
- Integration confirmed working
Assumed (No Direct Test)
Claims we believe but haven't verified:
- "It should scale" (but no load test)
- "Users will want this" (but no validation)
- "Security is fine" (but no audit)
Unknown (Gap)
Things we don't know:
- Untested edge cases
- Unexplored failure modes
- Missing requirements
Production Readiness Checklist
Score each criterion 1-10:
| Criterion | Weight | Questions to Ask |
|---|
| Core hypothesis validated | 20% | Did the experiment prove what we set out to prove? |
| Performance benchmarks | 15% | Do we have latency, throughput, resource usage data? |
| Security considerations | 15% | Have we identified and addressed security risks? |
| Scalability tested | 10% | Will it work at 10x, 100x current scale? |
| Error handling | 10% | What happens when things fail? |
| Observability | 10% | Can we monitor and debug in production? |
| Documentation | 10% | Could someone else take this over? |
| Knowledge transfer | 10% | Is knowledge spread across the team? |
Scoring Guide:
- 8-10: Production-ready with minor polish
- 6-7: Needs targeted work in specific areas
- 4-5: Significant gaps requiring substantial effort
- 1-3: Research phase, not ready for production planning
Gap Analysis Matrix
Use this template to map what's proven vs unknown:
| Domain | Proven | Assumed | Unknown |
|---|
| Functionality | Feature X works | Feature Y will work similarly | Edge case behavior |
| Performance | 100ms p50 latency | Will scale linearly | Performance under load |
| Security | Auth works | No vulnerabilities | Penetration test results |
| Scalability | Works for 100 users | Will work for 10K | Actual breaking point |
| Operations | Can deploy manually | Automation will work | Rollback procedure |
| Integration | API contract defined | Will integrate smoothly | Error handling at boundaries |
Red Flags Checklist
Watch for these patterns that indicate low readiness:
Output Template
# Research Assessment: [Project Name]
## Executive Summary
[2-3 sentences: what this is, key finding, readiness score]
## What Did We Prove?
### Validated Hypotheses
- **[Hypothesis]**: [Evidence] (Confidence: High/Medium/Low)
### Key Findings
1. [Finding with evidence]
## Production Readiness: X/10
| Criterion | Score | Notes |
|-----------|-------|-------|
| Core hypothesis | X | |
| Performance | X | |
| Security | X | |
| Scalability | X | |
| Error handling | X | |
| Observability | X | |
| Documentation | X | |
| Knowledge transfer | X | |
## Gap Analysis
| Domain | Proven | Assumed | Unknown |
|--------|--------|---------|---------|
| ... | ... | ... | ... |
## Risks & Technical Debt
- [Item with severity]
## Recommended Next Steps
1. [Action]
Progressive Validation Ramp
Before investing in production readiness, projects must pass increasingly rigorous gates.
Apply the "80% of experiments should fail" philosophy:
| Gate | Kill Rate | Key Question |
|---|
| Idea → Internal Build | ~40% | Is the problem real and worth solving? |
| Internal → Private Preview | ~30% | Have we built something worth testing externally? |
| Private → Public Preview | ~30% | Are external users getting value? |
| Public → GA | ~10% | Are we ready to bet the company reputation? |
See references/graduation-criteria.md for detailed gate requirements.
References
See references/ for:
readiness-criteria.md - Detailed scoring rubricscommon-gaps.md - Typical gaps by project typegraduation-criteria.md - Gate criteria and kill decisions (GitHub Next patterns)rfc-templates.md - Google, Uber, Sourcegraph RFC formats
See examples/ for:
poc-assessment-example.md - Vector Search POC with full "What Did We Prove?" frameworkgate-review-example.md - Internal Build → Private Preview graduation checklist
