Fact. On Sunday 19 April 2026 Rich stated that Matt and Mark (Nova) do not inspire him and lack the sophistication he demands. The Nova development proposal (tt-products/nova-development-proposal.md) and the multi-brand architecture roles (multi-brand-architecture.md) have been edited to reflect this: Nova is now a “lower-priority optional capacity” channel, not the primary build partner.
Why: AI (Claude pair-programming) raises the delegation bar. The work Rich used to delegate to Nova (implementing features from mockups + specs) is now done faster and better by Rich+Claude directly. What Nova could contribute — mid-tier development — is a commoditised layer that no longer needs delegating. Rich’s commercial vision requires partners with higher sophistication than Matt and Mark bring. See feedback_ai_raises_delegation_bar.md for the general principle.
How to apply:
- Do not propose Nova (or Matt / Mark individually) as the build partner, delivery partner, or revenue-growth lever in future specs, roadmaps, brainstorms, or architecture plans.
- Josh remains TT’s technical lead. Rich+Claude is the primary build team.
- If any residual Nova engagement makes sense (e.g. one-off implementation work on a non-critical path), it should be framed as optional capacity, not load-bearing.
- The Nova development proposal document is retained for reference but status downgraded to
on-hold. - This does NOT apply to Dave McNally (designer, mediahq2 role), Josh (TT technical lead), Charis (user testing / thought leadership) — they remain central.