What it signals
A pillar that has not been touched in 200 days is either perfectly stable or quietly abandoned. PSI does not tell you which — but it tells you the question is worth asking. Without PSI, both states look identical from the outside.
Combined with PCR, PSI is the disambiguation signal. A stable-PCR pillar with high PSI is probably fine: the rules have not changed because they are correct, and teams are following them. A declining-PCR pillar with high PSI means no one is responding to the drift — the governance is stale and failing simultaneously. That combination is not ambiguous: it requires intervention.
PSI surfaced in isolation is rarely alarming. PSI read alongside PCR, PDT, and PDRP separates the healthy-dormant pillar from the neglected one. The number is a timestamp in disguise: the last time anyone confirmed this domain was still governed.
How rkito produces it
Who this metric is for
PSI flags pillar domains that may need a governance health check, especially when combined with declining PCR. If you own a pillar with PSI > 180 and PCR is dropping, PSI tells you the governance layer has not responded to the conformance signal — the rules may not reflect what the domain actually needs any more.
How this metric gets misused
A Security Pillar with PSI=200 and PCR=92 is healthy. The rules have not changed because they are correct and teams are following them. Treating high PSI as an automatic red flag creates noise and trains pillar owners to make cosmetic edits just to reset the counter.
PSI only requires action when combined with other signals: declining PCR, declining PDT, or rising PDRP alongside high PSI. That combination indicates an unresponsive pillar that is failing its domain. Without those companions, high PSI means "no one has needed to change anything" — not "no one is paying attention."
What to do at each threshold
Step-by-step response playbook for each signal state.
Pillar artifacts have been modified recently. No action required. Confirm that PCR is stable to close the loop.
Pillar artifacts have been modified recently. No action required. Confirm that PCR is stable to close the loop.
Contact the pillar owner and prompt them to schedule a review of their domain artifacts. This is a soft check-in, not an escalation — confirm the governance is still current before the pillar crosses 180 days.
Contact the pillar owner and prompt them to schedule a review of their domain artifacts. This is a soft check-in, not an escalation — confirm the governance is still current before the pillar crosses 180 days.
Navigate to the pillar, confirm or update artifacts, or open a CHI to archive if the domain is no longer relevant.
Navigate to /steerings/pillars, open the pillar, and update at least one artifact to confirm it is still active. A "reviewed and confirmed accurate" touch is valid where content is correct.
If the pillar is no longer relevant, open a CHI to archive it. A stale pillar whose Lenses are still running evaluations is producing conformance data against rules that may no longer reflect architectural intent.