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Split the plan into phases

Pathway 2 assumes the plan is ready and can be executed. Before anyone codes, break that plan into a phased approach: ordered slices that can be implemented and verified without discovering the plan again.

The Planning Phase owner owns this split. Sequence phases so accepted decisions land in the right order: data and contract choices before the work that depends on them. Do not start execution until the phases are visible.

Prerequisites​

  • The ticket meets the Definition of Ready.
  • The pathway 1 plan states the approach, accepted decisions, dangers, and verification.
  • A named Planning Phase owner.

If the plan is not ready, return to planning. Do not invent phases to hide missing outcome, dependencies, or acceptance criteria.

Write the phased approach​

Turn the ready plan into the smallest useful sequence:

Phases:
  - Name:
    Outcome:
    Decisions:
    Depends on:
    Verify:

Rules:

  • Each phase leaves the system in a valid state.
  • Each phase names the plan decisions it carries — especially data, add, change, upstream, and downstream choices.
  • Each phase has an observable verification, taken from the plan.
  • Later phases name the earlier phase they depend on, or none.
  • Put a decision in the earliest phase that can absorb its blast radius. Do not bury a data or contract change inside a later UI or glue phase.
  • Execute one phase at a time. Do not start the next phase until the current phase's verification passes.

A contained change may be a single phase. Prefer that over a ceremonial breakdown.

Example:

Phases:
  - Name: Preserve existing empty emails
    Outcome: Contacts already stored without email remain readable.
    Decisions: Do not backfill existing contacts; downstream readers still
      accept empty email.
    Depends on: none
    Verify: Opening an existing contact with empty email still works.
  - Name: Validate email on save
    Outcome: Saving a contact without email is rejected.
    Decisions: Add required-email validation on save; upstream save callers
      must send an email for new contacts.
    Depends on: Preserve existing empty emails
    Verify: Saving without email shows the error and does not persist.

This is not a triage split. Linked tickets are for different owners or independently delivered work. Phases are ordered parts of one ready plan that still share the same outcome.

A phase that is independently releasable may continue through submit, test, accept, and release. A phase that only unblocks the next phase still needs its planned verification before the next phase starts.

Expected result​

The Planning Phase owner and the implementation owner can name the current phase, the decisions it carries, what it depends on, and how they will know it worked. Coding can start on the first unblocked phase.

If the plan cannot be phased​

Return to planning when a phase would hide an unaccepted data or contract decision, and to detail or research when the gap is outcome, dependency, or uncertainty rather than sequence.

Do not open an execution branch to discover the phases.

Next: Execute the ticket.