Do not demo first. Ask about the last actual acceptance event.
- 3 daily operators: QA, accessibility, security, delivery, or IV&V
- 3 people near authority or budget: product executive, COR, procurement, prime
- 2 potential partners: testing firm, public-interest digital service vendor
- 2 skeptics who believe current tools already solve the problem
- Show me how the last software deliverable was accepted.
- Where was the authoritative requirement?
- Who decided what evidence would prove it?
- Which evidence was generated automatically, reviewed manually, or supplied by the vendor?
- What was impossible to verify?
- How did you distinguish missing evidence from a failed requirement?
- What happened when the source requirement changed?
- Could a reviewer reproduce the acceptance package six months later?
- Which existing system was supposed to do this?
- What did the gap cost in delay, rework, dispute, or risk?
- Who could fund a bounded improvement?
- What would make this generic consulting rather than a product?
Give two experts the same ten-clause public excerpt. Independently record:
- classification;
- required evidence;
- blocking criticality;
- accountable owner;
- ambiguity;
- whether another tool already owns the problem.
Measure agreement before reconciling. Disagreement is evidence about the product, not an evaluator error to hide.