What a stop control needs
A halt control that is always visible, a pause that costs the person nothing, and saved progress they can return to, on every critical journey.
What is stoppability?
Stoppability is the ability to halt an automated process: for the person inside it, without penalty; for the institution, by a named person, in a set time.
Stoppability has two sides. A person inside an automated process can leave it without losing their place or being penalized for leaving. The Institute's standard on people's time, STD-01, makes that a right. On the other side, a named person in the institution can halt the system itself within a set time, on the record.
Neither side is enough on its own. Stoppability contains harm while the correction happens; it is not the correction. A halt stops the run, not the rule that produced it.
A hypothetical case. A loan application flow has a persistent “Stop and resume later” control that saves progress and issues a receipt. Behind it, a named credit-risk lead can halt automated declines within a day, and each halt is logged with the evidence that prompted it.
In the glossary: Stoppability.
Mechanism, drawn
Stop at any step, keep your place
A halt control stays visible at every step. Stopping saves the person's place, issues a receipt, and carries no penalty, so they can resume later or walk away.
In practice
What to look for
A halt that exists only on paper
Some flows claim stoppability but discard progress after a pause. In some institutions the halt exists only on paper: nobody is named, and it has never been used. Test resuming after a lost connection and an expired session, and ask who last used the halt.
Proof that stopping costs nothing
Share how many stop requests there were, how many people resumed, and audit logs showing no penalty flag was added after a stop. For the institution's halt, name the person who holds it and the date it was last used.
Where the standards use it:
- STD-01 — The Temporal Bill of Rights (standard). Article I sets out the person's side of stoppability, with the temporal rights around it.
- STD-01 evidence pack. Collect the receipts, screen recordings, and logs that show stopping works.
How is stoppability different from cancellation?
Cancellation ends a process. Stoppability lets a person pause or halt it at once, without losing their progress or being penalized for stopping.
Who should hold the institution's halt?
A named person who can use it without waiting for a committee, and who is protected from retaliation for using it.
Is stoppability the center of the framework?
No. The center is whether evidence that a system is wrong reaches someone who has to change it. Stoppability is how harm is contained while that happens.