Every fortnight the same question comes up: what shipped? We could answer with a list. We would rather you could check it yourself, because the answer already sits on Atheron Progress.
So this piece does not list the items. The changelog is the record, and a copy in a blog post would only drift from it. Instead, here are five questions to bring to the changelog and the tracker, across every project. Each one takes a minute and none of them needs our word.
1. Did a mark actually change?
Every project is split into modules. Every module carries one mark: shipped, building, next or later.
The real movement in a fortnight is a mark changing. A module going from building to shipped is the event that counts. A long changelog with no mark changes means work happened, but nothing new reached anyone. A short changelog with one module moving to shipped can be the better fortnight.
2. Is somebody using it?
Shipped means somebody uses it today. Not merged, not demoed, not ready in principle. In use.
When the changelog says something shipped, the tracker should show the same module marked shipped. If the two disagree, the tracker mark is the one that has to meet that test, so trust it and ask us about the gap.
3. Did the percentage move for the right reason?
The percentages on the tracker are counted from the marks. Nobody types them.
That gives you a simple check. If a project's number moved this fortnight, a mark moved underneath it, and you should be able to find which one. If no mark moved, the number cannot have moved either. A percentage is a summary of the marks, never a claim on its own.
4. Does the status page agree?
If what shipped is part of a public service, the status page is the next place to look. Each public service has ninety days of history, and each day is coloured by its worst event.
Shipping something does not prove it stays up. Look at the days since the change. A run of clean days is a good sign. A coloured day is not a verdict, but it is worth reading what happened on it.
5. What does the fortnight not say?
Each project has limits, and a fair reading keeps them in view.
- Atheron Trading is paper only until launch. Anything that shipped there is in a paper setting, and you will not find performance figures for it.
- ATON Blockchain reads like any other project: modules, marks and the changelog entries behind them.
- ATON Desk is coming soon. Until one of its modules is marked shipped, nothing there is in anyone's hands yet.
- Atheron Network Labs is open for projects. Read its marks the same way: shipped only when somebody uses it.
Work marked next or later belongs to the roadmap. It tells you what we plan to do, not what we have done, and it should never be read as part of this fortnight.
The five checks at a glance
| Question | Where to look | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Did a mark change? | Tracker | Whether anything new moved |
| Is somebody using it? | Tracker and changelog | Whether shipped really means shipped |
| Did the percentage move fairly? | Tracker | Which mark explains the number |
| Does the service hold up? | Status page | How it has behaved since the change |
| What is left out? | Project notes and roadmap | The limits of each project |
Why we write it this way
A summary from us is only as good as our honesty on the day we wrote it. A record you can check is better. The changelog, the tracker marks and the status history are all there for you to read, and they are computed or recorded rather than written up afterwards.
Some fortnights will be quiet. A quiet fortnight on the record is more useful than a busy one in a blog post. If you run the five questions and something does not add up, that is exactly what the public record is for, and we want to hear about it.
