CIS Pipeline

Type: Research method

Definition

CIS (Context → Information → Synthesis) is the research loop used in Stage 2 of the Kelly software factory. It structures the research phase so that output is guaranteed to be actionable — not just information gathered, but a decision-ready synthesis.

The Three Phases

  1. Context: What do we already know? What constraints exist? What has the team already explored? Establish the foundation before searching.
  2. Information: Search, read, query. Gather what is unknown or uncertain. Use multiple sources.
  3. Synthesis: Distill into: what we know, what we don't know, what to do next. Output is a yes/no ready gate.

Gate

The CIS loop produces a READY/NOT-READY gate. NOT-READY means either the information was insufficient or synthesis revealed open questions that must be resolved before proceeding. READY means the research is complete and planning can begin.