Agile · Delivery · Definition of Done
Working software is the measure
How a team turns an idea into something a person can watch running. Short loops, vertical slices, a definition of done that code enforces, and what changes about all of it when AI agents write most of the code.
Speed was always a side effect of short loops — the loop is what the ground rules protect.
The writing here is about process as something you can check. Every piece of work ends in a demonstration, done is a test rather than an opinion, and a team's measures count what reached a customer rather than what was produced. AI agents make all of that matter more: they make producing cheap, so the constraint moves to review, acceptance and the demo.
The frame
Four ground rules that carry the weight
Read the agile piece →Short loops that end in feedback
Days or weeks, and a loop closes only when somebody outside the team has seen the result.
Cut through every layer
One thin capability through screen, API, logic and data, so it works on its own and can be shown.
Done is enforced by code
Tests, integration gates and mutation testing, because at agent volume nobody reads every change.
Measure flow, not output
Lead time, failure rate and the review queue. Story points measured human effort, and the effort has moved.
Flagships
Where to start
Agile and Iterative Development
Agile as a toolbox held together by five ground rules, the vertical slice as the one that carries the weight, and what AI agents change about velocity, quality and the sprint review.
False Green
A pipeline reporting health it never checked, taken apart: what the checks claimed, what they actually read, and the arithmetic that showed the gap.
Field notes
Engineering process writing
See all →- Agile and Iterative Development: A Slice Through Every LayerSoftware Delivery & Engineering Practice
- Self-Hosted CI Runners: The Job That Waited for a Sleeping PCCI/CD & Runner Infrastructure
- Hosted Code Review: The YAML Parsed and Nothing Read ItAI Code Review
- Local-First Code Review: The Guard Dog and the LedgerLocal-First AI & Code Review
- The Scaffolding Comes FirstCI/CD & Delivery Pipelines
- False GreenAI Code Review
- How to Design a CLAUDE.md That Actually WorksClaude Code
- The AI Code Review Problem: Why the Same AI That Writes Your Code Cant Review ItTools
- DevOps in the Age of AICloud / DevOps
- The Evolution of Software Development: From Specialized Experts to Near-Shore SolutionsCloud / DevOps
Engage
Shipping a lot and showing little?
A look at how your work is sliced, what your definition of done actually enforces, and where the review queue has become the constraint — with agents in the loop or not.
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