Process
The shape of the work, start to finish. The pattern is the same whether it's a small change or a serious build — only the amount of structure changes.
Start with the requirements
This is the part that decides whether the rest goes well. Before anything gets built, I work through what's actually being asked for — interviewing the idea, pushing on the edges, naming the assumptions out loud. Most requirements look complete until you start pulling on them. The goal here is to find the holes while they're still cheap to fix, not three weeks before a release.
Turn the rules into code
Once we know what "done" and "correct" mean, they get written down as something executable: acceptance criteria, security and compliance constraints, the standards a reviewer would apply. These aren't a document that sits in a folder. They're the checks the work has to pass, and they run for the rest of the project.
Let the system build
With the rules in place, the agents do the construction inside them. Gap analysis, code analysis, BDD, and TDD run as the work happens, not as a phase tacked on at the end. When the work is contained, this is light. When it's complex or the stakes are high, it's coordinated across specialized agents with checkpoints between stages. Either way, nothing moves forward with an open question behind it.
I review the method, not every line
My attention goes to the test plan and the method — are we checking the right things, in the right way? The system handles the line-by-line. It only pulls me in when there's a real decision to make, or when its own checks can't agree. If gap analysis, code analysis, BDD, and TDD all fail on something, that's usually a sign the requirements were wrong, and it comes back to me. That's the kind of thing worth a person's time.
Validate the outcome
At the end, the question is simple: does the result do what we said it would, and can we show it? Every piece traces back to the requirement that asked for it, with the record to prove it met the bar. That trail is what lets the work stand up to scrutiny later, whether that's a teammate six months on or an auditor.