Evidence

Make a conclusion inspectable

Evidence is an observation that supports or challenges a conclusion about the work. Useful evidence identifies what was observed, where it came from, which task or unit it concerns and which source state it describes.

A result needs context

• Observation: a test result, build result, source review or other relevant fact.

• Scope: the task, work unit and behavior being assessed.

• Provenance: the producer, source revision and artifact references.

• Outcome: what the observation establishes, including failure or uncertainty.

• Time: when the observation was made, separate from when it was recorded.

Retries and corrections are different

The engineering evidence store distinguishes reusing an identical record from submitting conflicting information under the same identity. A correction should preserve the relationship to the earlier record. Silently replacing an inconvenient result would make the review trail harder to trust.

{
  "observation": "Decline handling check passed",
  "scope": "replacement payment adapter",
  "sourceState": "record the actual revision",
  "artifact": "record the actual test output",
  "limits": "Does not establish production provider behavior"
}