Definition
A candidate control is a proposed answer to an identified uncertainty: a control the team believes could reduce that uncertainty, entered into the system so it can be developed, tested for fitness for purpose, and promoted into service if it proves fit.
Every working control in Jigsaw begins as a candidate. One is created when an uncertainty has been clarified — named precisely and located in daily reality — and the team chooses a direction. The candidate enters the Candidate Controls board as Proposed, with an owner and a connection to what it serves: the risk zone, step, or space it exists for.
A candidate is a hypothesis. Proposing one costs nothing and commits the team to nothing except finding out more. Because entering the system is separate from being adopted, ideas can surface early, visibly, and safely.
Why This Matters
The candidate stage is what makes Jigsaw controls team-built. A control that starts as a candidate is developed where the work happens, tested by the people who will run it, and adopted knowing why — including when the “how” turns out to be externally required. Arriving at a control knowingly is what makes it owned, and a control the team can explain is a control the organization can stand behind. That is where defensibility begins.