Category

F02 Product — Formal Operator R&D Arc

Definition
Working Definition:
The formal discipline that names, logs, evaluates, and adjudicates the testing activity every operator is already running informally. Covers all four operator testing categories — menu and product, training and people, hospitality beats, operational changes. The formal version of what the operator has always done without calling it that. Makes the activity visible, the instrument legible, and the intelligence durable instead of letting it evaporate shift by shift.
Open Questions:
Scope question: does [Operator R&D] cover all four testing categories from launch or does it model one category first and generalize?
Cadence: period-based rhythm proposed — does this lock or stay operator-determined?
Relationship to [Meaningfully Differentiated Value] — MDV is the gate that determines whether a test runs; needs formal pairs-with notation in existing MDV canon entry
Which fundamental does this anchor in — Performance as execution discipline or Perspective as foundational frame?
Workshop Trail:
Surfaced during Gartner whitepaper shape read session, 07.08.2026
Gartner source: “Prioritizing Innovation Opportunities,” 2023 — enterprise R&D selection processes institutionalize incrementalism through instrument design, not decision-maker failure
User confirmed: “operators need to engage in a more formal R&D process”
User confirmed informal restaurant R&D exists across all four categories but none of it is named, logged, or formally evaluated
User’s own ten-step process confirmed as the authoritative version — framework built from practitioner-derived discipline, Gartner as external validation not source
Parent term of the formal process arc: [Read Log], [R&D Brief], [Bias Prosecution] all sit inside or feed this discipline

Explanation
See Definition.