Excluded / partially-covered comparator fields (M2, 2026-07-26)

Of the 10 candidate comparator fields listed in the task, 8 now have at least one card (B01-B08). Two fields were not built into their own standalone card:

• Quality engineering and continuous improvement: Considered specifically as a candidate for gap (b) (verification criteria plus prospective reassessment triggers), via the Plan-Do-Check-Act / Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle. Not pursued to a card because Deming's own primary text ("Out of the Crisis," 1982, MIT CAES) and Shewhart's original 1939 source ("Statistical Method from the Viewpoint of Quality Control") were not confirmed freely and lawfully accessible in full text within the time available for this pass. Argyris's double-loop learning (B08) gave a comparably strong and directly verifiable primary source for the same conceptual gap, so it was built instead. This is not evidence that no legitimate PDCA/PDSA primary source exists — only that this pass did not verify one to the same standard as the other cards.

• Cybernetics: No specific, independently sourced feedback/control/reassessment mechanism distinct from what is already captured in B02 (lifecycle tailoring criteria and review) or B08 (double-loop learning's governing-variable reassessment) was identified as worth a separate card. Forcing a distinct cybernetics card risked either duplicating B08's mechanism under different vocabulary (first-order vs. second-order cybernetics closely parallels single-loop/double-loop learning) or citing only secondary/textbook summaries rather than a primary source (e.g., Wiener 1948, Ashby 1956) that was actually read and section-verified in this pass. Excluded rather than padded.

One field has only partial coverage rather than full exclusion:

• Organizational learning and double-loop learning (B08): A card was built because a strong primary source (Argyris, 1977, "Double Loop Learning in Organizations," Harvard Business Review) was located and fully section-verified. However, no independent second source (standard, specification, or independently authored primary-application paper) was found and section-verified in the time available. The card and the coverage matrix mark this operational_coverage=partial and status=coverage-insufficient rather than treating it as fully covered.

These exclusions and the one partial-coverage note were not used as evidence of absence, and were not used as any kind of mapping judgment against materials this role was not permitted to see.