Comparison guide
Prototype software learns. Production software carries obligation.
RDD is useful only if the boundary stays visible. Build to Learn can move quickly because it is provisional. Build to Deliver begins when evidence is strong enough to govern production work.
Prototype versus production
Built to expose disagreement, clarify rules, test workflow assumptions, and produce evidence.
Built to be secure, maintainable, observable, accessible, scalable, integrated, tested, and governed.
The boundary RDD protects
The failure mode is prototype theater: a convincing demo gets treated as proof that delivery will be simple. RDD rejects that move.
The Freeze Gate asks what the prototype proved, what it did not prove, what risks remain, and which Reality Checks must happen before production commitment.
When a prototype has done its job
A prototype has done its job when it makes a decision clearer. It may confirm behavior, reveal an exception, remove scope, expose a policy conflict, or show that the team is not ready to commit.
The artifact worth carrying forward is not the disposable build. It is the evidence record produced by contact with reality.