The principle
Value Continuity
The principle above VCDesign. It is independent of any method and is published at value-continuity/value-continuity.
The canonical repository has no site of its own, so this page serves as an entry point. It does not rewrite or add to the definitions. The canonical documents are written in Japanese (MIT License); the only official English is the English summary at the top of the README, quoted below. Everything else on this page marked unofficial translation is our translation, and the Japanese original prevails.
The official English summary
Value Continuity is a principle for checking, before implementation, whether a plan, investment, improvement or system keeps generating value through change and failure. It is defined as keeping the ability to create the next value, even as work, people, technology and products change or fail. Its central principle, the Value Asymmetry Principle, is: make upside propagable; do not let downside propagate. It is independent of any specific method; VCDesign implements it on the side of judgment and responsibility. The documents are written in Japanese.
Canonical README, "English summary"
1. Value Continuity
Value Continuity is not about preserving present value as it is.
It is keeping the ability to create the next value, even through change and failure.
If what can be used to generate the next value remains even when the current work, people, technology and products change, value is continuing.
Canonical README §1 — unofficial translation
The question the canonical text asks at the planning stage is:
Can this effort carry good results on to the next value while stopping the chain of bad results?
Canonical README, "Purpose" — unofficial translation
2. The Value Asymmetry Principle
Make upside propagable. Do not let downside propagate.
Good results and bad results are not treated the same way.
- Good results are given paths to the next value through reuse, connection and learning.
- Bad results are kept from spreading further by boundaries, ceilings and recovery.
"Making propagable" means keeping open a path for a good result to spread; it does not mean spreading it automatically. Whether to actually spread it is decided by a decision (Expand).
The ability to close the downside is the capital for continuing to bet on the upside.
Canonical README §2 — unofficial translation
3. Δ (the gap from expectation)
Δ is the gap between the expectation declared at the start of an effort and what actually happened. The expectation includes both the conditions assumed as premises and the value the effort aimed to create.
Canonical README §2 — unofficial translation
- A gap below expectation is called Negative Δ. It is not propagated.
- A gap above expectation is called Positive Δ. It is made propagable: observing and holding it are never stopped, and whether to spread it is decided by a decision.
VCDesign takes this general meaning and fixes the baseline, polarity and handling of Δ as an implementation concept (Core: Δ).
4. The five principles
The Value Asymmetry Principle is practised as five principles (canonical README §3 — unofficial translation).
| Principle | In the canonical text |
|---|---|
| 1. Keep | Decide first what remains when work, owners or technology change: standards, rationale, data, connections, skills. Nothing remains without someone who keeps holding it. |
| 2. Find | Look for signs of wide spread through reuse, not the average improvement: the second time is cheaper; requests come from places you did not ask; it becomes input to another decision; value per item rises with each connection. |
| 3. Close | Do not predict bad spread; stop it at boundaries. Set the ceiling of loss first, localize failures, re-check premises at boundaries, avoid dependence on a single point. |
| 4. Try | Change within the range you can revert. The ability to recover, switch over and withdraw decides how many times you can try. |
| 5. Pass on | Hand the basis, not the conclusion, to the next decision. The receiver re-decides it in their own context. |
The order matters. Without deciding what to keep, you cannot find signs of spread. Without stopping bad spread, you cannot try again. And the basis you pass on becomes the starting point of what the next effort keeps.
Canonical README §3 — unofficial translation
5. Decision
A review ends in a decision, not a score. The decisions are these six words (canonical README §8 — unofficial translation).
| Decision | In the canonical text |
|---|---|
| Proceed | Value Continuity is satisfied; proceed with the current structure at the current scale. |
| Expand | Signs of upside have been observed; widen the target, scale and connections within the ceiling of downside and the recovery capability. An average effect alone is not a basis for Expand. |
| Limit | There is value, but the downside could spread too far; limit the target, authority, scale, period and so on. |
| Reframe | The value, target, boundary or premises need to be redefined. |
| Defer | External conditions or material for judgment are missing; do not settle it now. |
| Retire | Continuing will not lead to the next value; ending it better fits Value Continuity. For an effort not yet started, this includes deciding not to start. |
How VCDesign handles each decision (declaration updates and next states) is on the Decisions page.
6. Review Output
A review using the canonical text outputs at least the following five items, each marked ok / warning / blocking with its basis (canonical README §9 — unofficial translation).
- Upside — what leads to the next value, what is reusable, what the signs of upside are
- Downside — the maximum loss, how far it spreads, where it can be stopped, whether you can recover or withdraw
- Continuity — what remains after work, people, technology or products change
- Asymmetry — whether upside propagation and downside containment hold together
- Decision — one of the six words
The canonical text is meant to be used not only for human planning decisions but also as the criteria for AI-assisted plan reviews. An example instruction for AI is included in the canonical README.
7. Canonical and applied documents
| Document | Content |
|---|---|
| README.md | Definition, central principle, five principles, review structure. The canonical definitions |
| value-continuity-business-planning.md | Application to business planning and investment decisions |
| value-continuity-system-design.md | Application to system design |
The applied documents restate the canonical definitions in the language of each domain, keeping the five principles in the same order and number.
8. Relation to VCDesign
Value Continuity is implemented by different methods at different layers: management decisions, planning, organization design, system design, operations design. Individual methods are means of satisfying this principle; they are not Value Continuity itself.
VCDesign (Value Continuity Design) is positioned as a method that implements Value Continuity specifically on the side of judgment and responsibility.
Canonical README §10 "Implementation Boundary" — unofficial translation
Which VCDesign mechanism implements each principle is summarized in Core: implementation by principle.