On Atheron Progress, every project is split into modules. Each module carries one of four marks: shipped, building, next or later. The percentages you see are counted from those marks. Nobody types them in.
That makes the shipped mark the one that matters most. It moves the numbers. So we keep the test for it short enough to fit in one line.
Shipped means somebody uses it today.
This piece is about that line: what it rules out, why we chose it, and what it does not promise.
The one question
When a module is ready to change marks, we ask a single question. Is somebody using it today?
If the answer is yes, it is shipped. If the answer is not yet, it stays where it is, however close it feels.
The question is about use, not about effort. A module can have taken a long time, passed every check we gave it and still not be shipped, because nobody is using it yet. That is not a failure. It is just an honest place on the board.
What the test rules out
A plain test is useful mostly for what it keeps out. Under this one, these do not count as shipped:
- Work that is finished but not yet in anyone's hands.
- Work that runs only for the people who built it.
- Work that is planned for a date, even a near one.
- Work that we expect people will want.
Each of these can be real progress. None of them is use. They belong under building, next or later until that changes.
Why we hold to it
We hold to it because of what you do with the numbers.
If you read that a project is a certain share shipped, you should be able to trust that this share is out in the world, doing a job for someone. If the mark could also mean almost done, or done on our side, the percentage would quietly drift upward. You would have no way to tell how much of it was hope.
Counting from marks, rather than typing a figure, only works if the marks are strict. A loose mark counted carefully still gives you a loose number. So the discipline has to sit at the mark itself.
How this plays out across projects
The same rule applies to every project on the tracker, whatever stage it is at.
- Atheron Trading runs on paper only until launch, and we publish no performance figures for it.
- ATON Blockchain is tracked module by module like everything else.
- ATON Desk is marked coming soon.
- Atheron Network Labs is open for projects.
A project being at an early stage does not bend the rule. If nothing in a project is in use yet, its shipped share reflects that. We would rather show you a small honest number than a large one you have to discount.
What the mark does not tell you
The test is narrow on purpose, so it is worth being clear about its limits.
Shipped tells you a module is in use. It does not tell you the module is perfect, or that it has never had a bad day. For that, look at the status page. It shows each public service with ninety days of history, and each day is coloured by its worst event.
The percentage is also a count of marks. It is not a measure of hours spent or of how hard each module was to build.
Reading it for yourself
When you open a project on Atheron Progress, read the marks before the percentage. Look at which modules are shipped and ask the same question we do. Is somebody using this today?
If the answer you find does not match the mark, that is worth knowing, and the changelog is where we would expect to set it right. The point of a public tracker is that you do not have to take our word for it.
