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SOP-012 — Update the chronicle

Guide

<!-- last-reviewed: 2026-06-01 · owner: The Archives (Historian) -->

SOP-012 — Update the chronicle

SOP · owner: The Archives (Historian). Layer: SOP/Runbook (docs/canon.md). How the company’s narrative history (history/chronicle.md) is updated against the verbatim record and handed to the Archivist for preservation. Role frame: docs/units/archives/manuals/historian.md (linked, not restated).

Interface Contract

  • Inputs: document versions + provenance ← from Archivist (archive/MANIFEST.md) · trigger: preservation complete
  • Inputs: roster/structure history (ORG.md evolution, read-only) ← from <document owner/unit> · trigger: document changed
  • Outputs: new/updated history document → to Archivist · trigger: artifact approved
  • Handoff trigger (in): a milestone, era, or significant event needs narrating, or the record is refreshed (preservation complete)
  • Handoff trigger (out): the chronicle is written/updated, verified against the record, and approved for preservation
  • Definition of Done before handoff:
    • [ ] Every claim reconciled against the record (archive/MANIFEST.md / git / ORG.md); silences stated, not guessed
    • [ ] Written at the requested altitude (logline → full chronicle)
    • [ ] Approved (Archivist as unit Lead, per SOP-002 RACI for SOP/owner docs)
    • [ ] Handed to the Archivist for preservation via artifact approved (→ SOP-010)
    • [ ] Learnings captured to docs/knowledge/ if any

The artifact approved out-trigger must match, verbatim, the Archivist’s Inputs … ← from Historian · trigger: artifact approved in SOP-010 — so the reconciler reads the intra-unit authoring→preservation edge as matched. The document changed in-edge is a read-only dependency on ORG.md’s evolution (the Historian narrates it from whichever owner reports the change). It is declared with a placeholder producer (<document owner/unit>) — the Historian’s own intake sink — so it reconciles as a read-only template seam, not a wired push handoff. All trigger phrases are drawn from docs/handoff-triggers.md.

Purpose

Keep the company’s narrative history accurate, current, and faithful to the record — so the story of what happened, when, why it mattered, and the legacy it leaves is preserved alongside the verbatim documents.

When to use

When a milestone (MS-##, archive/SPECIFICATION.md §4), era, or significant event needs narrating; on a periodic chronicle refresh; or when the record is meaningfully refreshed (preservation complete).

Flow

flowchart LR
  G["Gather from record"] --> T["Establish timeline"]
  T --> W["Write at altitude"]
  W --> V{"Verify vs record"}
  V -->|backed| A["Approve<br/>(Archivist, Lead)"]
  V -->|silent| S["State the silence"]
  S --> W
  A --> H["artifact approved<br/>→ Archivist (SOP-010)"]
  classDef s fill:#1d4ed8,color:#fff,stroke:#1e3a8a
  classDef d fill:#0f766e,color:#fff,stroke:#134e4a
  class G,T,W,A,S,H s
  class V d

Text fallback: gather facts from the record → establish the timeline → write at the requested altitude → verify each claim against the record (state silences, do not guess) → Archivist (as Lead) approves → hand to the Archivist via artifact approved for preservation (SOP-010).

Steps

  1. Gather from the record: archive/MANIFEST.md, document versions under archive/documents/, git history, and ORG.md’s evolution. Read-only — never alter sources.
  2. Establish the timeline — order events, dates, causes; anchor chapters to MS-## milestones where they exist.
  3. Write at the requested altitude (logline / brief / executive summary / chapter / full chronicle).
  4. Verify against the record — “cite or stay silent”: every claim is record-backed; where the record is silent, say so rather than invent (accuracy over flourish, JD guardrail).
  5. Approve — the Archivist (unit Lead) approves the history doc (SOP-002 RACI for SOP/owner-class docs).
  6. Hand off — emit artifact approved to the Archivist; preservation proceeds under SOP-010. Capture any learning to docs/knowledge/.

Roles / approvers

Authored by the Historian; approved by the Archivist (unit Lead) per SOP-002; preserved by the Archivist (SOP-010). HR owns ORG.md (read-only source here).

Guardrails

  • Accuracy over flourish. Never embellish or invent; the record is the arbiter.
  • Stay in lane. Writes history/ only; propose source changes to their owners.
  • No personal information in the history (PA-only; ORG.md).
  • Do not restate the record — narrate and cite it (one home per fact).

Job aid: N/A — narrative-judgment work, not a verbatim checklist (GR-4). See also: docs/units/archives/manuals/historian.md · SOP-010 (docs/sop/SOP-010-preservation-omni-intake.md) · archive/SPECIFICATION.md §4 · history/chronicle.md · SOP-002 (docs/sop/change-management.md).