Step ② — Freeze the acceptance criteria

Why this exists: if you set the bar after seeing the result, you will set it wherever the result landed. Freezing the bar before building is the one thing that makes "lower the bar to pass" detectable instead of invisible.

Done = the table is frozen

Take the three pieces from Step ①, break the work into stages, and for each stage write a row:

## Acceptance Table — <task>  (type: design/build/fix/exploration · frozen on <date>)
| # | Stage | Expected value | How to verify | Nature |
|---|-------|----------------|---------------|--------|
| 1 | …     | what this stage's output must satisfy | who, with what data, doing what | measurable / judgment (anchor: …) |
Cross-stage coupling (if any): stage A × stage B — what constraint / who guarantees it / how it's checked
Task-level bar: which stages are hard gates (no ship if failed) / downgraded items: reason + recovery trigger + owner
Change log: none | <date + what changed + why + human sign-off>