OPS.16:10 - Rationale

An operating improvement is a decision about a way of working under actual service conditions. Its evidence becomes usable only when the object under change, performed Work, direct observations, and receiving authority remain identifiable.

The status split prevents circular proof: a candidate is not admitted because a plan calls it a Method, and actual Work is not said to enact a candidate whose identity remains unsettled. The typed observation and specialist-return steps prevent one favorable outcome from silently supplying coherence, fit, worth, reliability, or causality.

Local decisions remain valuable even when stronger claims are open. A branch that works for one package family under one support condition can improve operation now while preserving the evidence needed to reconsider transfer or cultural continuation later.