What the chapter covers

A6 hardens each rung; A7 runs the whole loop end to end. This dive names what that run covers: the seven steps A7.01–A7.07, the zero-to-production arc.

A7 covers one thing at length: the whole loop, run once, on the Portal. Seven steps carry it from an empty repository to a deployed platform, and each step runs a technique a prior chapter taught. The chapter is the composition, not a new technique — named here at the roadmap's altitude, with each step's internals deferred to the chapter's triad. Select a step on the right to see its phase and the prior chapter it runs.

The seven steps Three releasable milestones On the Portal References

The seven-step walk · pick a step

A7.01 · Decompose the vision — runs A2 (decomposition: vision into a value ladder). Step 1 of 7 of the zero-to-production arc. · the step's internals are detailed once the a7.* triad is seeded.

The seven steps

A7 carries the whole loop over seven steps, named at the roadmap's altitude. They are the zero-to-production arc: the Portal's vision decomposed, its delivery planned, each rung specified, the Author briefed and the increment built, the result hardened, and the rung accepted and shipped. The first six steps each run a technique a prior chapter taught; the seventh closes the loop.

A7.01

Decompose the vision — runs A2: the Portal vision turned into a value ladder of testable stories.

A7.02

Plan the delivery — runs A3: the backlog sequenced into thin-but-robust increments grouped into milestones.

A7.03

Specify the rung — runs A4: each rung defined and proven, correct by definition.

A7.04

Brief the Author — the machine-readable brief the Author builds from.

A7.05

Build the increment — the Author turns the spec into running code.

A7.06

Harden to production — supervision, boundaries, and property tests make the built increment production-grade.

A7.07

Accept and ship — accepted only at STATUS: PASS; shipped to production, closing the loop.

These are the steps at roadmap altitude — the sequence, not the per-step acceptance criteria. The detail (each step's demo, its gates) is deferred to the chapter's triad, named in the milestone figure below.

Three releasable milestones

An end-to-end run still groups into milestones — the same shape the roadmap layer taught, applied to the whole loop. The seven steps fall into three releasable checkpoints: plan & specify, brief & build, and harden & ship. Each milestone is a point where the Portal is releasable, not a big-bang finish. Select a milestone below and the readout reports the steps it groups and its role.

Milestones · pick a checkpoint

M1 · plan & specify — A7.01, A7.02, A7.03 (3 steps). The Portal vision is decomposed, its delivery planned, and each rung specified. The milestone's internals are detailed once the a7.* triad is seeded.

The principle

An end-to-end run still groups into milestones — releasable checkpoints, not one big bang. The whole loop ships in stages a real role can use along the way.

On the Portal

A7's seven steps ship the Portal's five surfaces in dependency order, each milestone a releasable checkpoint on the way from an empty repository to a deployed platform.

The zero-to-production arc is seven steps in three milestones, each step a prior technique run.

On the Portal

The seven steps run on the Portal — one real, multi-surface system carried from an empty repository to a deployed platform. The branded store, the event-sourced engine behind one facade, the Phoenix web app, the Telegram bot, and the student dashboard come up in dependency order; each milestone is a point where what exists is releasable. The companion F6 Phoenix chapter is the web surface, built end to end from a real roadmap, and the Functional Programming in Elixir course supplies the OTP foundations A7 cites rather than re-teaches.

Next in A7: How it runs — the Author/Operator loop run once on the Portal, one production-grade rung shipped at a time, in dependency order.

References

Primary sources for the whole system running end to end, milestones as releasable checkpoints, and small batches grouped into iterations — and where the techniques the steps run are taught in the course.

Sources

Hunt, A. & Thomas, D. — The Pragmatic Programmer — the tracer bullet and walking skeleton: the whole system end to end before the backlog fills in.
Humble, J. & Farley, D. — Continuous Delivery — milestones as releasable checkpoints across the arc.
Beck, K. — Extreme Programming Explained — small batches grouped into iterations.

Related in this course

A7 · Portal exemplar — the chapter landing.
A3 · The roadmap layer — milestones and the delivery plan A7.02 runs.
A4 · The spec layer — the definition A7.03 runs.
A2 · Decomposition — the backlog A7.01 produces.
A7 · How it runs — the loop run once on the Portal.
Companion · Phoenix (F6) — the Portal's web surface, built end to end.
Companion · Functional Programming in Elixir — the Portal's Elixir and OTP foundations.