Rubikn Quality Control Standard

Rubikn’s work is built to be auditable: every competitive claim and “what they actually ship” statement is tied to a source, a capture date, and a confidence level—so your team can defend it in demos, reviews, and procurement.

Lock scope and define what matters

Start by naming the decision this research serves. What problem are we solving—market share, customer retention, product roadmap clarity? Know your three main competitors and how they move: direct sales, self-serve, enterprise deals.

Test your extraction system

Run 10 to 20 competitor claims through your taxonomy and scoring rules before you scale. This pilot catches gaps in how you classify claims, what proof actually counts, and whether your output format works for the teams who'll use it.

Strip the bias, keep the facts

Remove language that judges or assumes. Stick to what's observable—what they say, what they ship, where the evidence sits or doesn't. Let the gaps speak for themselves.

Validate before you commit

Confirm your research plan with stakeholders. Agree on what counts as proof, who owns the decision, and what happens with the findings. Alignment now saves rework later.

Document evidence as it surfaces

Fieldwork demands discipline. Every claim needs its source link, a screenshot, and the date you found it—so the proof holds even when pages disappear or campaigns shift. Track what you capture, flag what repeats, and mark where the story changes across channels.

Source capture discipline

Every claim gets a source link, screenshot snippet, and capture date.

Duplicate detection

De-duplicate repeated claims so proof gaps aren't counted multiple ways.

Consistency tagging

Flag contradictions across channels—ads versus docs versus release notes.

Primary research QC

Monitor speeders, attention checks, and quota health if interviews are used.

Verification

Clean the record, then triangulate

After fieldwork closes, the real work begins. Strip out what doesn't hold—outdated pages, unverifiable claims, sources too thin to trust. Then cross-check what remains against multiple signals so no single source carries the whole weight.

Removal audit

Document what we removed and why it didn't survive scrutiny.

Signal cross-check

Verify claims against at least two independent sources when possible.

Secondary validation

Test findings against reviews, analyst reports, and public documentation.

Verify the work holds up under pressure

Run the same data twice and get the same answer. Reproducibility is how you know the findings are solid enough to stake decisions on.

Score the dataset a second time independently

Compare results and flag any scoring drift

Test claims as the competitor would challenge them

Document edge cases and reasoning for each call

Proof that holds weight

Not all evidence carries the same force in a decision.

Foundation

Direct product proof

Docs, release notes, pricing pages, integration directories, UI screenshots.

Strongest

Third-party validation

Review sites, analyst notes, customer stories, security and compliance artifacts.

Credible

Market signals and positioning

Ads, webinars, social, job postings show what they emphasize.

Directional

Community and forum chatter

Forums and comments work only when triangulated with stronger sources.

Transparency

Three tiers, one honest answer

Confidence lives on a scale tied to your evidence. No ambiguity, no hedging—just clear language so your team knows what they can move on and what still needs watching.

High confidence

Tier 1 proof stands alone, or Tier 1 backed by Tier 2 signals. This is what you defend when the stakes are real.

Medium confidence

Tier 2 evidence plus corroborating signals, but no direct product proof. Strong enough to shape strategy, not strong enough to bet everything on it.

Low confidence

Tier 3 or Tier 4 only—market chatter, forum posts, secondhand reports. Mark these as hypotheses or watch items, never as settled fact.

You make the call

Your team decides what confidence level justifies action. RUBIKN makes sure the evidence is there to back whatever decision you make.