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Phase-0 Truth Rot — Antipattern Nomination

Status: Draft (submitted 2026-04-16 by PSSaaS Systems Architect during PowerFill Phase 1 execution). Not canonical until PO approval per docs-site/docs/agents/process-discipline.md §Nomination Process.

This file is the persistent record of the nomination so it survives the session. When Kevin relays to the Collaborator, paste the code fence below.

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Nomination: Phase-0 Truth Rot

Behavior: Once a Phase 0 artifact (spec, deep dive, assumptions log) is
committed and marked authoritative, downstream phase planning treats it
as primary source. Errors in Phase 0 (miscount, misname, missing items
relative to the actual legacy code) then propagate silently into the
phase's implementation plan, where they may survive through code review
if no one re-reads the legacy source. The artifact becomes the ground
truth in practice even when it materially diverges from the underlying
system it describes.

Example: PSSaaS PowerFill Phase 0 (2026-04-16). Deep dive listed 13
`pfill_*` tables and named one `pfill_ect_params`. The NVO
`n_cst_powerfill.sru` (line 6004, `of_update_database`) actually creates
17 `pfill_*` tables and the disputed one is `pfill_epci_params`. Had
the Phase 1 plan been written against the spec without re-reading the
NVO, four entities would have been silently omitted
(`pfill_epci_params` under the wrong name, plus three tables entirely
absent: `pfill_loan_constraint_pool`, `pfill_loan_ordering`,
`pfill_payups`). The Architect caught this during Phase 1 planning by
running `rg "is_table_name\\s*=\\s*\"pfill_"` against the NVO before
committing to the entity set.

Distinct from:
- Instruction fade — that's rule/instruction forgetting across time.
  Phase-0 Truth Rot is about a specific artifact's accuracy degrading
  relative to primary source, not about forgetting rules.
- Sibling mimicry — that's copying sibling projects. Phase-0 Truth Rot
  is about trusting one's own prior documentation without
  re-verification.
- Evidence-free diagnosis — that's fixing bugs without evidence.
  Phase-0 Truth Rot is upstream of the fix; the evidence exists but
  wasn't cross-checked against primary source.

Proposed name: Phase-0 Truth Rot (alternatives considered:
"Authoritative-artifact rot", "Derived-truth drift")

Proposed countermeasure: "Primary-Source Verification Gate" — before
committing to a phase plan, re-verify the Phase-0 artifact's key
structural claims (counts, names, identities) against primary source
(legacy code, actual DB schema, vendor docs). If any claim fails
verification, stop and correct the Phase-0 artifact BEFORE drafting the
phase plan. Fits in "Gates (Before Acting)".

Why new countermeasure: Alternatives-First Gate covers approach
selection; Consolidation Gate covers duplicate code paths;
Diagnostic-First covers fixes. None of those cover "trusting prior
documentation." This is the gap.

Submitted by: PSSaaS Systems Architect, 2026-04-16, during PowerFill
Phase 1 execution.
  • Phase 1 plan (.cursor/plans/powerfill_phase_1_plan_*.plan.md) §12 — the full nomination in context
  • Phase 1 devlog (docs-site/docs/devlog/2026-04-16-powerfill-phase-1.md) — captures the triggering discovery
  • PowerFill deep dive — corrected in the same commit as the nomination
  • Process discipline canonical (docs-site/docs/agents/process-discipline.md) — where this antipattern would live once approved

Disposition​

Awaiting Collaborator consolidation and PO approval. Until then, agents can cite "Phase-0 Truth Rot" informally but should not treat it as canonical vocabulary.