5. Define what "better" means and run improvement
Preface node
heading:5-define-what-better-means-and-run-improvement:501
What this page is
This is generated FPF reference text from the specification preface or supporting sections. It helps interpret FPF; it is not FPF Reference product documentation.
Methodology
Use it to understand how the specification wants to be read, then return to a route, pattern, or work packet for active work. Cite generated IDs only when the wording changes the task decision.
Content
Use this when you need to improve a product, process, architecture, document, pattern, regulation, research program, or organization, but the improvement criteria are vague or competing.
FPF helps you define characteristics for evaluation, evaluate what is being improved, generate a portfolio of improvement proposals, choose changes that really improve the situation, and repeat the cycle without reducing quality to one score.
Typical first result: a quality-and-improvement note with evaluation characteristics, one evaluation of the object under improvement, a portfolio of proposed changes, and a condition for stopping or reopening the cycle.
First inspect: A.19.ECS, E.22, E.23, C.16, C.25, E.21, E.9.DA, and E.2.DA when the object is an FPF artifact.
Last Updated: 2026-06-17 — upstream FPF commit 646b0b9b (github.com/ailev/FPF)