Parallel Workflows Need a Final Arbitration Step

Parallel branches should not converge by accident because final arbitration is where conflicting output becomes an operator problem.

Parallel work creates speed only if the merge is trustworthy. Without arbitration, the branch that lands first often wins for reasons that have nothing to do with quality or legality.

A real arbitration step should answer

• Which branch had authority to decide?
• What state version did each branch read?
• What evidence justified the final merge?

Use the architecture guide, blackboard schema, and examples to define branch arbitration explicitly.