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 rubrics
common-gaps.md - Typical gaps by project type
graduation-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?" framework
gate-review-example.md - Internal Build → Private Preview graduation checklist

research-assessment