One Canonical Owner per Documentation Fact

These examples and illustrative results are independently authored teaching materials, not measured model results.

Use case

README, an architecture map and a weekly report give completed, blocked and in-progress statuses for the same auth migration. The teaching project uses STATUS.md for live state, ARCHITECTURE.md for structure and DECISIONS.md for decisions. Establish actual state and its maintained owner.

Mechanism

Assign each fact by document role: blockers to status, module locations to structure and material tradeoffs to decisions. Other views reference the owner rather than independently maintain current values. Necessary audience summaries cite source and observation time. Inspect derived descriptions after changes so they do not become competing authority.

Bad example

Update only README to completed while the architecture map remains blocked and the report says in progress. Present all three as current authority.

Good example

Verify actual auth-migration state, maintain progress/blockers in STATUS.md, structure in ARCHITECTURE.md and decision history in DECISIONS.md. Link README to those owners. Label any weekly summary with its STATUS.md source and observation time rather than defining current state independently. Resolve existing discrepancies in derived views.

Why the change matters

Independent copies expire separately, leaving no clear basis for action. Named ownership with traceable references centralizes updates while allowing documents for different audiences.

Observable expectation

If verified teaching state is awaiting interface acceptance, STATUS.md owns it and README links there; the architecture map does not assert another completed state. A report summary carries date/source.

Trace overview facts to one maintained owner. Broken pointers, unsupported summaries or contradictory current copies need repair.

Limits

Canonical ownership permits backups and dated history. The owner still needs factual verification; explanations, history and current state have different jobs. Source-specific filenames need not be imposed universally.