governance-observability

Governance Observability

Defines the metrics, snapshot formats, and dashboard specifications for governance health. This skill is referenced by:

• The governance-auditor agent when producing audit reports
• The /governance-health command when displaying results
• The /governance-audit command when updating snapshots
• The portfolio dashboard when aggregating governance data

Governance Metrics Catalogue

Metric	Type	Description
Total constraints	integer	Total governance constraints in HARNESS.md
Falsifiability ratio	percentage	Proportion of governance constraints scored as "falsifiable"
Falsifiable	integer	Number of constraints rated "Falsifiable"
Vague	integer	Number of constraints rated "Vague"
Semantic drift stage	integer (1-5)	Numeric semantic drift severity from the five-stage model
Drift velocity	enum (stable/increasing/decreasing)	Direction of drift trend between audits
Governance debt items	integer	Number of governance debt items identified
Aggregate debt score	integer	Sum of (severity x blast_radius) across all debt items
Frame alignment score	percentage	Proportion of governance constraints with confirmed three-frame alignment

Snapshot Format Extension

Governance metrics are expressed as a markdown section in audit reports. The governance-auditor includes a Governance Summary section that agents (including the snapshot generator) can parse directly:

## Governance Summary

- Total constraints: 4
- Falsifiable: 3 (with verification criteria)
- Vague: 0 (lacking operational meaning)
- Falsifiability ratio: 75%
- Semantic drift stage: 1/5
- Drift velocity: stable
- Governance debt items: 2
- Aggregate debt score: 8 (sum of severity x blast radius)
- Frame alignment score: 50%

Staleness Thresholds

Metric	Fresh	Stale	Critical
last_audit	< 90 days	90-180 days	> 180 days
drift_velocity	stable or decreasing	increasing for 1 quarter	increasing for 2+ quarters
falsifiability_ratio	> 0.75	0.50-0.75	< 0.50
debt_inventory_size	0-2 items	3-5 items	> 5 items

Audit Report Format

Governance audit reports are written to observability/governance/audit-YYYY-MM-DD.md by the governance-auditor agent. Each report contains:

1. Summary — overall governance health score, counts, ratios
2. Constraint Assessment — per-constraint table with falsifiability score, drift risk, frame alignment, drift stage
3. Governance Debt Inventory — per-item table with severity, blast radius, score, affected constraints, recommendation
4. Debt Cycle Analysis — any reinforcement patterns detected
5. Prioritised Recommendations — ordered by debt score

Dashboard Specification

See references/dashboard-spec.md for the full HTML dashboard specification — sections, data sources, visualisation types, and colour schemes.

Portfolio Integration

When governance data is aggregated across repos (via /portfolio-assess), the portfolio dashboard gains:

• A governance column in the repo table showing each repo's falsifiability ratio and drift score
• A governance summary section with:
  • Distribution of falsifiability ratios across repos
  • Shared governance gaps (terms that are vague across multiple repos)
  • Drift trend comparison across repos
  • Aggregate debt inventory size