Eight layers, one hierarchy.
An institution does not fail because something is missing. It fails because something sits in the wrong place — a product carrying doctrine, a division holding a platform, capital allocated before anyone named who may allocate it. The eight layers exist to make misplacement visible.
Read downward: each layer is authorised by the one above it and serves the one below. Nothing skips a layer, and nothing appears in two.
I PHILOSOPHY why we exist
II GOVERNANCE who may decide
III INSTITUTIONAL CAPITAL what is held in trust
IV DIVISIONS who owns the outcome
V CAPABILITYOS the digital nervous system
VI ENGINES shared capability
VII PRODUCTS what a person opens
VIII OUTCOMES what changed in a lifeArticle Zero — the Master Rule
Every item in the institution — a division, an engine, a service, a product, a feature — answers all five. An item missing one is not incomplete; it is misplaced, and it is redesigned rather than shipped.
- One purpose
- What it is for, in one sentence.
- One owner
- Exactly one division accountable.
- One doctrine
- The Codex or Standard that governs it.
- One measurable outcome
- What would show it worked.
- One place
- One rung of the hierarchy, one layer.
The eight layers
- IPhilosophy
Why the institution exists, and what it believes about human beings.
What it holdsThe mission, the Six Capabilities, and the commitments that outlive any officeholder.
Governed by - IIGovernance
Who may decide what, and under which written constraint.
What it holdsBodies, decision rights, succession, emergency limits, ethics review, amendment.
- IIIInstitutional Capital
What the institution holds in trust, and the order in which it is deployed.
What it holdsThe seven forms of capital, the revenue engines, the fixed allocation path, treasury and endowment.
- IVDivisions
Who owns which outcome in the world.
What it holdsAcademy, Advisory, Research Institute, Ventures, Technology, and the Executive and Stewardship Offices.
- VCapabilityOS
The digital nervous system every division consumes and none forks.
What it holdsThe twelve permanent institutional systems, the knowledge graph, and the shared data model.
- VIEngines
The reusable capability that products are assembled from.
What it holdsPlatform engines and the platform services they expose. Owned by Technology, consumed by all.
- VIIProducts
What a person actually opens, enrols in, or is served by.
What it holdsSurfaces, dashboards, programmes, engagements, and the features composing them.
- VIIIOutcomes
What changed in a real life, measured and published.
What it holdsCapability gains, careers, enterprises, credentials, publications, and the Impact Ledger.
Governed by
The hierarchy, which never reorders
A feature that cannot name the service beneath it has nowhere to live. A business capability that names no engine will be built twice. The hierarchy is not a diagram of the org chart; it is the path any piece of work must be able to trace.
Institution
└─ Division
└─ Business Capability
└─ Platform Engine (CapabilityOS · owned by DIV-05)
└─ Platform Service
└─ Product
└─ Feature- 1Institution
Anabasis itself. One mission, one doctrine, one memory.
- 2DivisionDIV-
An owner of outcomes in the world. Five divisions and two offices.
- 3Business Capability
Something a division must be able to do. Stated as a capability, not as software.
- 4Platform EngineENG-
The shared implementation of a capability, held inside CapabilityOS and forked by nobody.
- 5Platform ServiceAPI-
A bounded, versioned interface an engine exposes to its consumers.
- 6ProductSURF-
An assembly of services a named person uses to do something real.
- 7Feature
The smallest shippable unit. Cites the service beneath it and the doctrine above it.
Divisions own outcomes
Exactly one division owns each business capability. Where two divisions need the same capability, the capability moves into the engine; the ownership does not split and the work is not duplicated.
| Business capability | Owner | Engines | Measurable outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teach a curriculum and record what was learned | Academy | ENG-02 · ENG-03 | Lessons completed and capability demonstrated, not merely attended. |
| Assess capability and issue a credential that survives verification | Academy | ENG-02 · ENG-01 | Credentials an employer can verify without asking Anabasis. |
| Recommend the next right unit of work for a person | Academy | ENG-03 · ENG-01 | A shorter path to the same standard, with no attention capture. |
| Run an advisory engagement with recorded commitments | Advisory | ENG-10 · ENG-06 | Client capability measurably higher at the close of engagement. |
| Diagnose an enterprise and model its operations | Advisory | ENG-08 | A diagnosis the client can act on without the consultant present. |
| Conduct research and publish it under method | Research Institute | ENG-09 | Publications cited by curriculum and by parties outside Anabasis. |
| Maintain the capability taxonomy and the knowledge graph | Research Institute | ENG-01 · ENG-09 | Every lesson and credential traceable to a capability and an outcome. |
| Build and capitalise a venture through named stages | Ventures | ENG-11 · ENG-08 | Ventures that survive their founder's attention. |
| Hold long-horizon goals and support sustained practice | Technology | ENG-04 · ENG-05 | Practice sustained across years without streaks or points. |
| Structure a consequential decision and record its result | Executive Office | ENG-06 | Every significant decision reviewed on its date, flattering or not. |
| Model financial capability, personal and institutional | Executive Office | ENG-07 | An allocation trace a second person can check. |
| Hold the doctrine, the audit, and the amendment record | Stewardship Office | ENG-01 · ENG-06 | No item in `src/` without a registry entry and a governing clause. |
Engines belong to CapabilityOS
Every engine is owned by Technology (DIV-05), held inside CapabilityOS, and consumed by divisions. No division forks an engine. This is the single rule that keeps one institution from becoming five platforms.
- Knowledge GraphENG-01SYS-03 · services API-09
Consumed by Academy · Research Institute · Stewardship Office
- LearningENG-02SYS-02 · services API-03, API-04
Consumed by Academy
- AdaptiveENG-03SYS-02 · services API-04
Consumed by Academy
- GoalENG-04SYS-02 · services API-02
Consumed by Technology
- HabitENG-05SYS-02 · services API-02
Consumed by Technology
- DecisionENG-06SYS-10 · services API-11
Consumed by Advisory · Executive Office · Stewardship Office
- FinancialENG-07SYS-05 · services API-10
Consumed by Executive Office
- BusinessENG-08SYS-04 · services API-06
Consumed by Advisory · Ventures
- ResearchENG-09SYS-03 · services API-07
Consumed by Research Institute
- AdvisoryENG-10SYS-04 · services API-06
Consumed by Advisory
- VentureENG-11SYS-06 · services API-08
Consumed by Ventures
Every division owns at least one capability; every capability names one division and at least one engine; every engine is consumed, exposes a service, and belongs to a system; every identifier resolves to a Registry entry; and the flywheel closes.