Green does not mean complete

Name the outcome before reading the lights

The exercise begins with a system whose components look healthy while work has stopped between acceptance and completion. This is a common perspective error: architecture is measured from the inside while the user stands at its end.

The Foundation arranges evidence in four layers: process life, dependency readiness, work progress and the user outcome. The anti-pattern shows how easy it is to aggregate green components into false confidence.

The same idea returns in AI agents and the delivery supply chain. An action gateway stops an operation the model cannot authorise. A GitHub Actions lockfile moves an invisible dependency change into review — but the review still has to happen. Automation without a decision owner merely loses accountability faster.