C4 DIPS
I defined C4’s four-stage lifecycle and built the alpha with Giggr’s team to keep decisions, evidence and contributor records together across handoffs.
Alpha- Role
- Product design & platform build
- Duration
- Alpha build
- Team
- Giggr Technologies
- Status
- Alpha
The handoff is where the reasoning gets lost
The first team knows why it made a decision. The next team may see only the result. At Giggr I defined a four-stage lifecycle: conceptualization, creation, contextualization and commercialization. I designed and built C4 DIPS with the team so the reasoning, evidence and contributor records could travel with the idea through those stages.
Define what must be true before work moves forward
I worked across product design, implementation and engineering coordination. We used 19 gates to spell out who could move an idea forward, what evidence they needed and whose permission mattered. A custom state machine made those rules part of the software. The alpha connects identity, workflows, learning, contracts and value around the same record.
For the audit trail, we chose a database hash chain over blockchain writes. We could represent the order of changes in the application’s own data. The broader build spans 42 frameworks across the Seven Stations of Life, with 32 microservices in the repository and infrastructure built for Cloud Run.
Where we stopped
Working flows and local checks were not enough to approve a release. The review required evidence from a live cloud rollout, which we did not yet have. We kept C4 at alpha. The next step is to establish that the workflows and controls operate in the deployed environment.
The record
What the evidence says.
- Movements in the lifecycle
- 4
- C4 operating model
- Canonical gates
- 19
- Gate catalogue
- Frameworks across the Seven Stations of Life
- 42
- Framework catalogue
- Microservices in the alpha repository
- 32
- Platform architecture
C4 DIPS / Workflow
What travels with an idea through C4
- Conceptualization
Start the idea in a shared record.
- Creation
Carry that record into the work.
- Contextualization
Keep decisions, evidence and contributors connected as the work changes hands.
- Commercialization
Bring the same record into the final movement of the lifecycle.
Worked explanationFollow a handoff through a gate
- Input
- An idea and its supporting record are ready to move to the next lifecycle stage.
- Decision / rule
- Check the relevant gate for the required owner, evidence and permission.
- Outcome
- The next team receives the decision and its context with the idea, rather than just a result.
Scope of this exampleThis describes the alpha design. A live production rollout has not established its operation.
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