QIP Proposal Review

Review a QIP without substituting for its human approvers. Use qv-qip-create for first drafts and qv-qip-triage to decide whether a QIP is needed.

Ground the review

1. Read ../qv-qip-create/references/qip-template.md.
2. Read docs/architecture/PRINCIPLES.md.
3. When the proposal changes runtime, package, plugin, registry, storage, transport, security, public API, release, or deployment boundaries, check its system fit against docs/architecture/ARCHITECTURE.md and the relevant current repository sources.

Do not infer approval, commitments, current behavior, or implementation feasibility without evidence. Treat principle conflicts as review findings, not automatic rejection, unless the proposal hides or misrepresents the conflict.

Review criteria

Decision readiness

• Problem explains what matters and why a decision is needed now.
• Solution recommends one direction and states the exact approval ask.
• Architectural responsibilities, boundaries, interactions, and rationale are concrete enough to evaluate.
• Obvious alternatives are addressed briefly, with supporting research summarized in the Appendix when needed.
• Consequences state positive impact and the trade-offs reviewers must accept.
• Decision-relevant trust-boundary, compatibility, migration, and release effects are explicit.
• Likely scope misunderstandings are excluded explicitly, and the approvers table is preserved.

An unclear or absent recommended direction or approval ask is a blocker. For another gap, first state how its answer could materially change the recommendation or why approval without it would be irresponsible. Explicitly deferred implementation detail is acceptable when the architectural direction, boundaries, responsibilities, and accepted trade-offs remain clear; require production-level detail only when the decision or its feasibility and risk claims depend on it. Do not use length or a preference for greater specificity as a proxy for readiness.

Decision-brief quality

• Use 600-900 words as the target and 1,200 words as a soft ceiling for the core proposal, excluding the approvers table and Appendix.
• Length above the ceiling is a suggested edit, not a blocker by itself.
• Flag specific passages when repetition or implementation detail buries the problem, recommended direction, architectural boundary, or accepted trade-offs.
• Recommend removing file lists and moving useful APIs, protocols, execution steps, test plans, rollout detail, failure-mode analysis, and large comparisons to the Appendix unless they directly affect approval.
• Check that the Appendix is relevant and organized, research has been synthesized rather than reproduced, external artifacts explain their relevance, principle references explain a concrete fit or conflict, and images are linked rather than embedded as base64 data.

Consultation

If consultation context is provided, check coverage of the owning team lead, Lead / Architect, and any relevant cross-cutting expertise. The consultation note belongs outside the Canvas-ready QIP, so its absence from the QIP is not a finding. Advice is direction plus reasoning, not a vote.

Findings and severity

Separate:

• Blockers: the decision cannot responsibly be approved. State the approval risk before using this category; examples include no clear approval ask, an unsupported material claim, an unresolved architectural contradiction, or missing impact that could materially change the decision.
• Clarifying questions: answers would improve confidence but are not shown to prevent responsible approval or require restructuring the proposal.
• Suggested edits: concision, organization, Appendix moves, and other improvements that do not block the decision.

Lead with findings ordered by approval risk and use line-specific references when possible:

## Blockers
- ...

## Clarifying questions
- ...

## Suggested edits
- ...

## Approval readiness
Ready | Ready with minor edits | Not ready

## Slack comment
<optional concise paste-ready comment if requested>

Say explicitly when there are no blockers. Do not rewrite the whole QIP unless asked. Keep an optional Slack comment under one screen.