Core Delivery Concepts
Shared language for safety-critical delivery.
Practical patterns for reducing risk, building confidence, and supporting safe decisions over time.
Shadow Mode
Running systems in real environments without influencing care.
Systems ingest live data and generate outputs, but those outputs are not shown to clinicians or acted upon. Behaviour is observed, evidence gathered, confidence built. No clinical risk until suitability is proven.
Clinical Confidence Loops
The feedback process through which trust is built.
System behaviour is compared with clinical judgement and real-world outcomes. Agreement, disagreement, and uncertainty are observed openly. Performance is understood rather than assumed.
Progressive Assurance Gates
Structured points where safety and scope are reviewed.
Systems progress through deliberate stages rather than a single go-live moment. Each stage requires evidence that behaviour matches expectations, scope remains controlled, and no unmanaged risk has been introduced.
Hazards as Code
Treating safety risks as living system artefacts.
Identified hazards and mitigations are maintained alongside the system itself, not in static documents. Safety assumptions stay current as systems evolve. No gaps between documented intent and actual behaviour.
Circuit Breakers & Fallbacks
Designing for safe failure.
When components degrade or fail, circuit breakers prevent cascading impact. Fallback modes ensure clinicians can continue working without dependency on advanced functionality. Failure reduces capability. It does not block care.
These concepts support delivery. They do not define it. Applied selectively, revisited as systems evolve.