Most companies skip a step between Vision and Strategy. VAST names that step: Architecture.
Vision → Architecture → Strategy → Tactics. When systems grow complex enough that implicit structure stops working, VAST makes it visible.
Vision "Why. Where we're going."
↓
Architecture "What the system consists of. How domains interact." ← the step most skip
↓
Strategy "Where to invest. What's priority."
↓
Tactics "What to build. What to do today."
| You are... | Start with | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Executive / org leader | Guide for executives | 5 min |
| Director / manager | Guide for directors | 5 min |
| IC / engineer / designer | Guide for ICs | 3 min |
| Curious / new to VAST | VAST in 5 minutes | 5 min |
Guides by function: Product · Engineering · People · CX · Operations · Marketing · Finance
- quick-start.md — VAST in 5 minutes
- guides/ — role-based entry points
- kernel.md — the mandatory core: principles, rules, non-goals — what makes something actually VAST
- anti-patterns.md — the catalogue of failure modes (how VAST gets documented and operated wrong), each mapped to the Kernel principle it violates
- vast.md — core framework definition
- layer-handoffs.md — what each layer must hand the next: the required payloads of the V→A→S→T cascade (medium-agnostic)
- fitness.md — thin per-layer fitness questions: is each layer actually doing its job? (not a maturity ladder, not metrics)
- evolution.md — how VAST evolves itself: promotion/retirement across Kernel→Guides→Adapters→Experiments, protecting the refusals, VAST applied to VAST
- standard-framework.md — how VAST relates to OKRs, BSC, Wardley Maps
- architecture-levels.md — Architecture at product / org / ways-of-working level
- applications.md — VAST applied to CX, Marketing, People, Finance, Operations
- README-full.md — complete documentation with version history and reading orders