Two things are kept separate on every news item: how far along the thing is, and how good the evidence is. A tool can be in production and still have no measured result behind it.
Stage
- Announced
- A company or regulator has said it will do something. Nothing has shipped, been adopted or been decided.
- Pilot
- Running for some users, some lines or some states, by the company's own description.
- Live
- In production, by the company's own description. This says nothing about results.
- Proposed · Adopted · Filed · Ruled
- For rules and cases: exposed for comment, finally adopted, filed with a court, or decided by one.
Evidence
- Legal duty
- A statute or adopted regulation, cited by section.
- Regulator expectation
- A bulletin or circular letter. We keep the regulator's own verb; "expects" never becomes "requires".
- Recommendation
- Defense counsel, an E&O carrier's loss-prevention guidance, a trade association.
- Allegation
- A pleading. Never reported as a finding, and never quoted for its damages figure as though established.
- Company statement · Vendor statement
- The company's own release or a statement reproduced in trade coverage. Not verified by anyone outside the company unless the item says so.
- Survey
- A published survey, with the sponsor and the sample size stated, or "sample size not disclosed".
- Authored here
- Our own procedures, thresholds and mappings, labelled so nobody mistakes our judgment for a requirement.