Scaling & Development

This category holds the dark-factory definition for software. The phrase comes from lights-out manufacturing, where a line can run a shift without staff on the floor. In software it means routine stations can run without someone typing each step. It does not mean the company has no engineers, and it does not mean a merge happens with nobody accountable.

The article separates the metaphor from the production bar: process control, a quality check, and an owner. Read it before using dark factory as a slogan in a deck or a job post. It does not claim an unattended business or a staffing reduction number. If you need the production checklist rather than the definition, the efficiency category carries that piece.