The method · Flight zones

The four flight zones

Control follows risk, not habit. Every work item is routed to Free, Guided, Paired or Held, based on how reversible it is and how far its impact reaches.

The more irreversible and far-reaching the work, the tighter the line

Every work item gets one of four flight zones in its Kite Brief. The zone sets who builds and how much human control applies. Two questions decide the zone: how reversible is the work, and how much does it affect customers and the team?

Easy to reverse · low impact

Free

AI builds and merges. Human spot-checks.

Refactors, tests, documentation, dependency updates.

Easy to reverse · high impact

Guided

AI builds, human checks. Outcome judged before release.

Features, UI changes, behaviour customers see.

Hard to reverse · low impact

Paired

Human and AI together. Human approves every step.

Data migrations, API contracts, infrastructure changes.

Hard to reverse · high impact

Held

The human decides. AI researches and advises.

Architecture, pricing, privacy, team restructuring.

The line next to each zone shows how taut it is: the heavier the line, the more human control.

Four ground rules keep the routing honest

The Free zone gives a team the most speed; the Held zone holds the most human judgment.

In doubt, go heavier: If you hesitate between two zones, choose the heavier one.
Lightening needs sign-off: The Intent Owner proposes the zone, but setting an item lighter than usual needs the Line Keeper's agreement.
The Tail moves zones: An item may move one zone lighter once verification covers the risk, for example with a strong test suite or a feature flag that makes rollback easy.
Every incident recalibrates: An incident from the Free or Guided zone is always a reason to revisit the routing.