/assess-system-boundary

name: assess-system-boundary
description: "Define and challenge the system boundary: what actors, processes, externalities, timescales, and value assumptions are included or excluded."

assess-system-boundary

Purpose

Define and challenge which actors, processes, externalities, timescales, and values are inside or outside a system boundary.

Input contract

required: [target_system, boundary_candidate]
optional: [actors, processes, externalities, time_horizon, value_assumptions]
constraints: [every inclusion and exclusion must be explicit]

Procedure

1. Inventory actors, processes, externalities, and timescales. 2. Mark each item inside, outside, or contested under the candidate boundary. 3. Generate boundary alternatives and compare consequences for the research question.

Output contract

produces: [system_boundary, inclusion_exclusion_register, boundary_alternatives, consequence_map]
delta_fields: [findings, assumption_updates, uncertainties, decisions]

Quality gates

• Boundary is reproducible from the register; contested items and value assumptions remain visible.

Failure and counterexamples

Reject a boundary that hides material externalities or treats excluded stakeholders as irrelevant.

Provenance map

• `critical-systems-heuristics/boundary-critique`: resolved.