Separate Observation From Interpretation

Capture

Observation:

• the bridge appears more tilted than yesterday;
• the string slips after tuning;
• the child reports pain near the thumb;
• the shift lands inconsistently.

Interpretation:

• the bridge is unsafe;
• the peg is defective;
• the child has poor technique;
• the shift problem is caused by tension.

The system must ask what happened before concluding what it means.

Why

This decision matters because separate Observation From Interpretation constrains the product toward continuity, evidence, and human judgment rather than broad AI helpfulness.

Why-Not

The rejected path would make separate Observation From Interpretation too easy to treat as an implementation detail instead of a public boundary. The ADR preserves the tradeoff explicitly so later product work cannot silently widen authority.

Commit

Decision: The system must ask what happened before concluding what it means.

This improves safety, diagnosis quality, and teacher communication.

---

Confidence: Medium-high for public architecture; implementation details remain private and subject to launch evidence.

Timestamp

2026-07-17