Business lines¶
Conductor's organization has 6 business lines. Every Initiative has a persistent Portfolio workstream (the governance spine) and one or more delivery-line workstreams. Workstreams run concurrently — adding one never transfers ownership.
Read the full lifecycle: Initiative workflow.
Line overview¶
| Line | Role | Stages | Primary workflow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio | Governance spine | 5 | Intake → Classify → Prioritize → Capacity → Review |
| Product | Venture + bootstrap evaluation | 6 | Discover → Explore → Score → Build-gate → Ship-signal → Archive |
| Software | Build, promote, deploy | 7 | Frame → Design → Implement → Verify → Promote → Deploy → Document |
| Editorial | Newsroom / publishing | 9 | Assign → Report → Draft → Edit → Fact-check → Localize → Stage → Publish → Update |
| Services | Consulting / freelance | 8 | Offer → Lead → Propose → Contract → Deliver → Invoice → Complete → Archive |
| Operate | Platform / SRE | 5 | Run → Observe; branch Change or Incident; Retire |
How an Initiative flows across lines¶
Every spark enters through Portfolio Intake. Portfolio Classify routes it to one of four paths. Gatekeepers hand off between lines via the Active Role field in Notion.
Path A — Commercial product
Portfolio [PM] → Product [PrM] → Software [EL] → Operate [PE] + Editorial [EiC]
Path B — Lab or tool
Portfolio [PM] → Product [PrM] → Software [EL] → Operate [PE] + Editorial [EiC]
Path C — Content
Portfolio [PM] → Editorial [EiC]
Path D — Engagement
Portfolio [PM] → Services [EM]
Gatekeepers:
PM = Portfolio Manager PE = Platform Engineer
PrM = Product Manager EiC = Editor-in-Chief
EL = Engineering Lead EM = Engagement Manager
Product is the universal gate for Software. Every Software workstream goes through Product evaluation — no exceptions. Product decides the estate (Prototype, Lab, or Portfolio-org) during Build-gate.
Cross-line loops go back through Portfolio: - Services needs software → Portfolio → Product → Software - Editorial needs tooling → Portfolio → Product → Software
See Initiative workflow for details on each path, the role of each line, and how the estate decision shapes Software implementation.
Project registry¶
Track every active Initiative and its workstreams in docs/registry/:
- Initiatives — the spine: outcome, DoD, active lines
- Workstreams — the detail: per-line stage, evidence, next action
Handoff rules¶
Handoffs activate, update, or close workstreams on the same Initiative. Portfolio accountability persists for the Initiative's entire lifetime.
Forward handoffs¶
| From | To | Gatekeeper change | Trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio | Product | PM → PrM | Classify routes a product bet |
| Portfolio | Editorial | PM → EiC | Classify routes content |
| Portfolio | Services | PM → EM | Classify routes an engagement |
| Product | Software | PrM → EL | Build-gate pass, WIP slot available, estate decided |
| Software | Operate | EL → PE | Deploy complete on shared host |
| Software | Editorial | EL → EiC | Lab/Portfolio-org URL verified → release piece |
Via-Portfolio loops¶
| From | To | Trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Services | Portfolio → Product → Software | Billable software delivery required |
| Editorial | Portfolio → Product → Software | Research needs tooling or analysis app |
Report-back¶
| From | To | Trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Software | Product | Ship signal / verify complete |
| Editorial | Portfolio | Publish or major update |
| Operate | Portfolio | Major change, incident, or retire |