A1.05 · Why an Agile Agent Workflow
Correct by definition
There is one word left open: done. In this workflow it is not a feeling and not a sign-off — it is a closure over traced, executed checks. A rung is done when its closure is complete.
A1.01 named the unit a rung should be; A1.02 named the principles that keep it ownable; A1.03 gave the loop its motion; A1.04 split the two layers. This module fixes done: every deliverable realized by a story, every story accepted, every invariant proven — and the mechanical quality gates that turn “A+” from an opinion into a repeatable result. Three dives: what done is, how it is established, and what holds it.
Done is a closed set
Across this chapter a rung has been the unit of work: a thin slice of value, specified only enough, built and proven before the next begins. This module names the test that says it is proven. A rung carries a closure — a finite, named set of acceptance checks, fixed up front from the spec. The rung is done when the set is closed: every check has executed and passed, and nothing is outstanding.
That is a stricter claim than “looks done.” “Looks done” is a statement about appearance; “closure complete” is a statement about a set you can enumerate and re-run. And a majority is not a closure — four checks of five green is not done, because the one outstanding check is usually the sad path everyone wanted to skip. Toggle the five checks for one Portal rung below; the closure ring closes only when all five are proven.
The closure · rung “enrol in a course” · toggle each check
Done is a closed set of executed, passing checks — defined up front and complete only when every member is green. A majority is not a closure.
The “enrol” rung is done only when all five acceptance checks — including “enrol twice → no duplicate” — have executed green; four of five leaves it not done.
A rung is done when its closure is complete — every check in the set executed and green, nothing outstanding — not when it looks done.
The three dives
Each dive takes one part of “correct by definition,” in the arc what done is → how it is established → what holds it: the closure as a closed set, the difference between a proven check and an asserted one, and the mechanical gates that re-run the closure so “A+” repeats. Read them in order — A1.05.1 starts.
The closure
“Done” is a closed set, not a feeling: every acceptance criterion executed and green, every invariant proven. A majority is not a closure.
Proven, not asserted
The check that ran and passed versus the one someone says passes. The traceability spine, and why the definition of done is the set of passing checks.
Gates
The mechanical quality gates that hold the closure and make “A+” repeatable rather
than an opinion — the course's cms ten gates, the Portal's harness.
After A1.05, chapter A1 is complete: the why of the workflow, end to end. The thread continues in A2 · Decomposition, where a vision becomes the user stories whose acceptance checks form these closures. Return to the A1 module navigation to continue.
References
The acceptance-and-pipeline tradition this definition of done draws on, and where it connects in the course.
Sources
- Humble & Farley — Continuous Delivery — the deployment pipeline as a chain of automated gates a candidate must clear.
- Adzic, G. — Specification by Example — executable specifications as the shared, living definition of done.
- Beck, K. — Extreme Programming Explained — the customer's acceptance tests as the definition of done.
Related in this course
- A1.05.1 · The closure
- A1.05.2 · Proven, not asserted
- A1.05.3 · Gates
- A2.04 · Acceptance criteria with Given/When/Then — the checks that form a closure.
- A1.04 · Two layers — the spec the checks derive from.
- A1.01 · The two failure modes — provable completion of a thin slice.
- A1 · Why an Agile Agent Workflow