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Open this page when a new project arrives. One gate, one question, one pass test you can answer yes or no — no partial credit, no “it depends.” If you cannot answer yes, you are not through the gate yet.
Demand
Is anyone already paying for something like this?
Pass test: Can you name a live competitor charging money for this?
Maintenance
What does it actually cost to keep this alive?
Pass test: Do you know its hours/month and $/month, measured rather than guessed?
Verdict
Has a decision actually been made?
Pass test: Is there a written verdict with a dated revisit, and are at most two projects in “pursue”?
Buyer
Who is handing over the money?
Pass test: Can you name who pays, and is it the same person who uses it?
Arithmetic
Does the math to your target actually work?
Pass test: At your candidate price, is the number of customers needed one you can describe a path to?
Transaction
Can money actually change hands?
Pass test: Is there a payment path written down that a stranger could complete end to end — even if you would currently walk them through it by hand?
Tax
Who is on the hook when a sale happens?
Pass test: Can you name who carries the indirect tax on a sale — and, separately, say that the income and self-employment tax on the proceeds stays yours no matter who you sell through?
Hand-sold
Do you know where to find your first buyers?
Pass test: Have you named ten specific people or places a plausible buyer already is?
Channel
Have you committed to one way of getting found?
Pass test: Is there exactly one channel, with a written date on which it may first be judged?
Compounding
Does the work keep paying after you stop doing it?
Pass test: If you stopped this activity entirely for a month, would it still be producing anything at the end of that month?
Rate
Do you know what this project pays for an hour of your time?
Pass test: Is there a written effective hourly rate — monthly profit divided by every hour the project takes, acquisition included — with one sentence naming what it is being compared against?
Kill
Is there a number that actually ends this?
Pass test: Is there a written kill criterion in the form “on (date), if (measurable) is (above/below) (threshold), this is a kill”?
Sunset
If the kill criterion fires, is there a plan for the people who paid?
Pass test: Is there a written sunset plan covering notice, money, data and the domain?
Capacity
Does everything already alive fit inside the hours you have said upkeep may take?
Pass test: Does the sum of every alive project’s maintenance hours fit inside a stated monthly maintenance budget?
Cadence
Is there a date on which this gets looked at again?
Pass test: Is there a written next-review date that also exists in a calendar that actually interrupts you?
This is the whole playbook — nothing here is still pending. Open it when a new project arrives. It is also what the quarterly review runs every project on the shelf through, gate by gate, whether or not anything about that project feels like it needs asking again.
Some of this is answerable before a project exists at all. A pass test that asks you to find something out or to decide something can be answered about a candidate you have not built — the world can be asked and a choice can be made either way. A pass test that asks you to measure something cannot: it wants a reading off a thing that is actually running, and on an idea alone the honest answer is “not answerable yet,” never a guess standing in for one.
Every claim on these pages links to its source. If a source looks wrong or out of date, check the resource list and tell your teaching agent — the course is meant to be corrected.