Exceptions and Deferrals

Some decisions are legitimately not yours to make today: the technology for a capability is under procurement, or another team owns the choice. A deferral exception records that honestly: which capability, why, and until when, instead of letting an open gap either block everything or get waved through.

Create a Deferral

Defer from the gap itself (the gap card offers it) or from the Assurance tab. An exception carries:

• The capability it covers.
• The reason; written for the reviewer and the audit trail, not just yourself.
• A review-by date; the deferral's honesty deadline.

While an exception is active, its gap stops counting against approval readiness: the design can be approved with the hole formally acknowledged.

Expiry and Revocation

Coverage is automatic in both directions:

• Past its review-by date, an exception stops covering; the gap blocks again with no human in the loop needed. A deferral cannot quietly become permanent.
• Revoking an exception ends its coverage immediately but keeps the record; exceptions are never deleted, because "we deferred this for six months last year" is exactly the kind of fact governance exists to preserve.

Deferrals Stay Visible

Deferred does not mean forgotten:

Surface	What Shows
Readiness board	Deferred gaps counted separately from open ones
Portfolio exceptions register	Every exception across the organization, ordered expired → expiring → active → revoked
Delivery plan	Each deferred gap becomes a decision spike, so the pending choice has a home in the work

A Deferral Is a Promise with a Date

Set review-by dates you mean. The register orders by urgency precisely so expiring promises surface before they lapse.