C.40.NU:4.4 - Retain meaningful contrasts without prematurely ranking them

Keep a lead when its difference could change the receiving problem, proposed contribution, support, burden, protection, horizon, or next evidence request. Merge duplicates whose differences change none of those. Do not discard a distinct useful question solely because another lead has a more impressive demonstration.

Keep the current way, a smaller repair, or no new development when each is a serious answer. “No new development” still has the continuing Work, costs, and exposure of the actual baseline.

Mark leads as ready for problem/contribution inquiry, conditional on a named premise, rejected for this use, or retained for a separately stated future question. These are working descriptions, not scores or a universal classification. The strongest available result may be that none of the searched leads yet identifies a worthwhile contribution.