FDLC maturity / 11
How mature is your software factory?
Maturity is the quality of your operating system for autonomous work: intent, authority, execution, verification, oversight, observability, reuse, and learning.
The maturity journey
Capability must be earned in sequence.
Each level describes what the factory can reliably operate today and the next capability needed to progress. More agents do not create maturity; stronger controls and better evidence do.
- L0
Ad Hoc Prompting
Individuals manually prompt AI tools with little shared process or retained evidence.
- Operating model
- Personal experimentation
- Next capability to earn
- Choose one bounded workflow and baseline its current cost, time, quality, and human effort.
- L1
Assisted Development
AI assists developers, while people still coordinate and own each workflow step.
- Operating model
- Human-led work with AI support
- Next capability to earn
- Make intent and acceptance criteria reusable before adding more autonomy.
- L2
Governed Agents
Agents have bounded identities, permissions, policies, and measurable execution.
- Operating model
- Delegated units with explicit controls
- Next capability to earn
- Persist Plans, Work Orders, Attempts, and recovery state outside individual sessions.
- L3
Orchestrated Workflows
Multiple capabilities operate through durable plans, work states, handoffs, and recovery.
- Operating model
- Durable governed workflows
- Next capability to earn
- Define independent verification contracts and evidence gates for one repeatable line.
- L4
Verified Factory Lines
Repeatable workflows use explicit verification contracts, evidence, policy, and quality gates.
- Operating model
- Outcome-producing factory lines
- Next capability to earn
- Connect accepted work to production outcomes, cost, reviewer effort, and regression data.
- L5
Continuously Learning Factory
Validated outcomes drive controlled improvements to routing, skills, evaluators, policy, and configuration.
- Operating model
- Governed continuous improvement
- Next capability to earn
- Keep promotion governed and continuously test that autonomy remains justified.
Assessment
Score what is demonstrably true today.
This is an educational diagnostic, not certification. The useful output is the next control or evidence gap to close.
Public self-assessment
Eleven dimensions. About five minutes.
Answer based on what your organization can demonstrate today—not what is planned. Results stay in this browser session and are not uploaded.
Turn the result into work