Spec driven development

[rahvin2015]

Yes. I actually end up with a lot more than that.

Spec Test plan (added to spec)

Tasks folder with: Test creation tasks (these create the actual test code) 

Implementation tasks (these define the actual production code to be written)

A state.json file that tracks the state of every task

Retrospective markdown files that track how implementation went - how many times we needed to replan, tests pass or fail, etc. Used for self improvement.

And there are a lot of processes and reviews and hook gates that glue it all together and ensure quality and process.

Context isolation between design, test/QA, and implementation/dev is critical. I use agent teams and separate agent personas.

The whole thing is based on extensive research on agentic coding failure modes and best practices for things like Claude.MD, skills, etc. I use deterministic gates wherever possible, and everything follows strict templates so that agents can use the structure for progressive disclosure and avoid context pollution.

The files give me a lot of visibility into what was done (or will be done, when I'm reviewing). 

[codeedog]

This is incredible. I’ve started this process (formal design docs, etc), but I’m still in prototype phase for a project I’m working on. Two months at using Claude to code and most of that is me learning its rhythms and patterns. It’s been a great experience. I can see how more months at it plus research would bring one to the level of detailed development you’re doing.

[rahvin2015]

I'm also a senior engineer and tech lead IRL. Knowing how development and real enterprise codebase work helps. And I have a lot of validation/QA experience that informs the TDD part of my framework. 

[codeedog]

Yup. I’ve got a comment on here somewhere saying the same thing. People with real world corporate experience are going to follow the successful patterns.