W5: completion mechanics - long-wait bridges, path integrity, fork routing, Going Further compression

[pftg]

W5: completion mechanics — long-wait bridges, path integrity, decision-fork routing, Going Further compression

The wave plan's final planned wave (20.15) and the strategy review's highest-leverage lever ("completion mechanics beat more media"). Content + yaml + one devx gate; no shared CSS/templates — campaign-safe. Groomed → 4 tasks (WIP=1), each gated.

T1 — Long-wait bridges (the approved centerpiece)

At the 3 calendar-forced pauses where readers drop off, added a bridge = one parallel micro-action + an explicit "come back when X" re-entry trigger:

• 1.4 (7-day demand test): during the wait, start Module 2's 30-name list; come back at 300 views.
• 1.5 (Stripe verification): build the whole button in test mode (card 4242); come back when Stripe activates the account.
• 2.4 (interview booking, the biggest cliff): start interviews at 3 booked, don't hold for 10.

Reviewed by a 3-persona cold-eyes panel (voice / Sam-ICP / learning-experience). The panel caught and fixed: a correctness bug (the Stripe trigger named a UI signal that doesn't exist), two banned-voice patterns, a path-honesty gap (the 1.4 list was built before the 300-visit signal existed — added the under-3% re-aim clause), plus a 2.3 head-start seam, a gloss, and a redundancy trim.

T2 — Path-finder fix + O7c path-integrity gate (20%-slot)

• Fixed the one live Next-drift: 2.1's core route now points at 2.3 (matching course_sequence.yaml), 2.2 offered as optional.
• Built bin/check-course-paths: every lesson's Next resolves + branched lessons match their yaml Core path. Report-only (COURSE_PATH_BLOCK=1 to block) with a before/after proof it catches the 2.1 drift class + a self-test. "Fix the gate, not the instance."

T3 — Decision-fork routing (4.1, 5.6)

Added the diagnose→route layer to the two unrouted forks, mirroring 2.5's template: yaml branches + branch-aware Next (4.1 routes self-serve/hire/re-validate off the worksheet answer; 5.6 routes persevere/pivot off whether a deposit cleared). Fork bodies untouched (4.1's mermaid is C6-protected). Validated clean by check-course-paths.

T4 — Going Further compression

Both hard-over pages brought under the 2,900 band by cutting redundancy only: pivot-or-persevere 3,206→2,894w, validation-tools 3,150→2,896w; churn 2,870→2,860w and glossary 2,733→2,688w lightly trimmed; how-this-course-works left at 2,751w (no forced cut). Independent reviewer verdict: SHIP — no decision criterion, canon number, cross-link, or reuse bridge lost, and the cuts removed three voice tells (a 4× parallel structure, an anaphora, a run).

Gates

• bin/hugo-build 8/8 every commit; bin/check-course-paths clean; banned-pattern sweep 0 across all edits; canon spot-checks pass.
• Content-only (markdown + yaml + a bin/ script) → no visual suite per policy; rendered scroll gate on every edited page. Honest bin/dtest from main: 34/34 green, zero failures (content-only, no regression; first run flaked on a transient abort, clean re-run green).

Parked (not in this PR)

The progress-completion tracker stays gated on Paul's 30-min Clarity check (his desk) — the passive course-visited.html localStorage layer already exists; only the visible completion UI waits.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Summary by CodeRabbit

• New Features

  • Added clearer branch-based course navigation for ownership, hiring, self-serve, outbound sales, and pivot decisions.
  • Added practical guidance for running smoke tests, preparing interviews, handling payment verification, and continuing outreach.
  • Expanded the pivot-or-persevere framework with trigger examples, pivot types, and measurement guidance.

• Content Updates

  • Refined lessons throughout the course with clearer instructions, improved tool guidance, and more direct explanations.
  • Updated next steps to better reflect learner progress and recommended follow-up paths.

[coderabbitai]

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Review failed

The pull request is closed.

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Path: .coderabbit.yaml

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro Plus

Run ID: 288842a8-cd01-455c-84e4-bfbeea16ae31

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 6edd192 and d14ec57.

📒 Files selected for processing (13)

• bin/check-course-paths
• content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/customers-leaving-churn-triage-not-acquisition/index.md
• content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/find-10-people-where-to-look/index.md
• content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/find-10-people-with-problem-outreach-2026/index.md
• content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/five-tech-words-stop-nodding-at/index.md
• content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/mom-test-ask-about-past-not-future/index.md
• content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/paid-pilot-charge-before-ship/index.md
• content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/pivot-or-persevere-decision-framework/index.md
• content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/price-hypothesis-on-smoke-test-page/index.md
• content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/should-you-hire-2026-decision-tree/index.md
• content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/smoke-test-landing-page-7-day-demand-test/index.md
• content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/validation-tools-field-guide/index.md
• data/course_sequence.yaml

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The changes add a course-path validation script, branch-aware navigation for Lessons 4.1 and 5.6, and revised lesson guidance for validation, interviews, payments, hiring, and pivot decisions.

Changes

Course path updates

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Course path validator bin/check-course-paths	The Ruby utility checks lesson Next: links, detects dead links and Core-path drift, supports self-tests, and provides report-only or blocking modes.
Branch navigation and decision routing data/course_sequence.yaml, content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/should-you-hire-2026-decision-tree/index.md, content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/paid-pilot-charge-before-ship/index.md	Lesson 4.1 now routes to self-serve or hire paths. Lesson 5.6 routes signed deposits to outbound sales and unsuccessful payment efforts to the pivot framework.
Validation workflow guidance content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/find-10-people-where-to-look/index.md, content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/find-10-people-with-problem-outreach-2026/index.md, content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/mom-test-ask-about-past-not-future/index.md, content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/price-hypothesis-on-smoke-test-page/index.md, content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/smoke-test-landing-page-7-day-demand-test/index.md, content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/validation-tools-field-guide/index.md	The lessons now describe interview preparation, campaign waiting steps, Stripe verification, tool workflows, and the distinction between tool reports and customer validation.
Pivot framework and lesson revisions content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/pivot-or-persevere-decision-framework/index.md, content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/customers-leaving-churn-triage-not-acquisition/index.md, content/course/tech-for-non-technical-founders-2026/five-tech-words-stop-nodding-at/index.md	The pivot framework adds trigger responses, ledger examples, measurement criteria, and discovery-loop guidance. Supporting lessons revise churn, technical-language, and hypothesis-testing wording.

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~25 minutes

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
  participant Learner
  participant Lesson41 as Lesson 4.1
  participant CourseSequence as course_sequence.yaml
  participant Lesson56 as Lesson 5.6
  Learner->>Lesson41: Complete ownership setup
  Lesson41->>CourseSequence: Choose self-serve or hire track
  CourseSequence-->>Learner: Open the selected follow-up
  Learner->>Lesson56: Record deposit result
  Lesson56->>CourseSequence: Choose outbound or pivot path
  CourseSequence-->>Learner: Open the selected follow-up

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Possibly related PRs

• jetthoughts/jetthoughts.github.io#428: Overlaps with the paid-pilot lesson and related course navigation changes.
• jetthoughts/jetthoughts.github.io#431: Overlaps with several revised lesson files and data/course_sequence.yaml.
• jetthoughts/jetthoughts.github.io#351: Related to the same Module 2 lesson navigation and course sequence restructuring.

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch course-w5-completion

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