ZCP: A Transferability-First Development Protocol for Predictable Software Continuity (Version 1.0)

This publication presents ZCP (Zaharia Continuity Protocol), a transferability-first development protocol for predictable software continuity in multi-team and multi-vendor environments. ZCP defines a versioned control catalog across five families: architecture and modularity, code quality and review, testing and verification, delivery and operations, and governance and transferability.

The paper provides: (1) a formal control model, (2) cumulative conformance levels (Defined, Enforced, Measured), (3) evidence requirements for independent auditability, and (4) a future empirical validation design based on delivery and reliability metrics. ZCP is designed as an execution-level bridge between established software lifecycle standards and day-to-day engineering practice, with a focus on maintainability, safe handover, and change predictability.

Version 1.0 is a specification-first release. It does not report production adoption results yet; instead, it establishes a citable baseline for future empirical evaluation. A controlled-disclosure boundary is applied to protect proprietary implementation details while preserving scientific and practical usefulness.