Originally written in French. Translated by AI — the meaning has been preserved, not the prose.
Short definition
A condition written in advance that decides a piece of work is finished, and that someone other than its author can verify.
Full definition
The term circulates in engineering and operations research to designate the condition that interrupts an iteration, without presupposing anything about its value as proof.
In the description and audit projects at issue here, it covers two species that are constantly conflated. The satisfiable criterion bears on the work accomplished: "I have gone through all my sources", "the network of cards is closed". It is true, available without manufacturing anything, and it only proves you have finished what you started. The probative criterion bears on the object of the work: a list of what exists, a measurement of the share covered, a figure a third party can recompute. It requires additional work, demanded at the moment you believe you have finished.
Two properties distinguish the second: it is chosen at the start of the work, and it is verifiable by someone who didn't do the work. On the example treated here, it takes the form of an enumeration of the product from several angles and a three-state counter, of which only "not yet looked at" has to fall to zero.
Usage in the field
It comes into play in framing a long project — product description, audit, migration, security review, debt recovery — and in any instruction given to an agent: the criterion is part of the instruction, not of the report.
Synonyms and variants
Completion condition, definition of done, acceptance. "Acceptance" adds the idea of a third party who pronounces approval.
Not to be confused with
- Coverage — a measurement of the share of an enumerated set that is handled; it feeds a stopping criterion without being one, since it has no intrinsic threshold.
- Milestone — a calendar marker; it says when you look, not what you observe.
- Cohesion check — a verification that the elements produced hold together; it says nothing about what was never produced.
Examples
"The network of cards is closed": a satisfiable criterion, a good cohesion check, with no value as completeness. "Here are the seven angles of enumeration of the product, here for each is the share attached to a card, and nothing is left in the state not yet looked at": a probative criterion, replayable by a program.
Ambiguities / debates
Some objects of work can't be enumerated, and no probative criterion is available for them. The debate then bears on what you accept: acknowledging that no proof of completion exists, or retaining a satisfiable criterion while knowing what it doesn't say.