All Phases
Phase 01

Pre-Production

Transform the approved Concept Document into a buildable plan.

How are we building this, and in what order?

Steps

01
Requirements Specification
Formalize features into user stories and acceptance criteria
Deliverable: Requirements Document
02
Technical Spikes
Time-boxed prototypes to validate unknowns
Deliverable: Spike Reports
03
Architecture Design
System architecture, data models, testability patterns
Deliverable: Architecture Document
04
UI/UX Design
Visual direction, wireframes, screen designs, user flows
Deliverable: UI/UX Spec
05
Design System
Design tokens, component library, component specs
Deliverable: Design System Spec
06
API & Data Design
Database schema, API contracts, data flows
Deliverable: API Spec + Schema
07
Project Plan
Milestones, sprints, task lists
Deliverable: Project Plan
08
Dev Environment Setup
Repos, CI/CD, testing infrastructure
Deliverable: Working Dev Environment
09
Phase Retrospective
Capture process learnings, create continuity artifacts
Deliverable: Retrospective + Continuity

Key Principles

Design for the MVP, not the vision. Architecture should support v1 features cleanly.

Spike the unknowns. Any complex or unknown items get a time-boxed prototype before committing.

Set up for speed. Dev environment and CI/CD should make production as frictionless as possible.

Estimated time investment3 days – 2 weeks

From the Journal