Modern Engineer

/modern-engineer

Auto-trigger rule

Whenever the user asks to build, create, or start a new project — always begin at Phase 1. Do not skip brainstorming even if the request seems simple or well-defined.

Phase 1 — BRAINSTORM

Goal: Understand what's actually needed before writing a line of code.

1. Interview the user with 3-5 targeted questions:

   • Who is this for? (default assumption: user only)
   • What specific problem does it solve?
   • What does "done" look like? What's the success condition?
   • What are the must-haves vs nice-to-haves?
   • Any constraints? (existing stack, time, dependencies)

2. Propose 2-3 feature sets ranked by simplicity — simplest first

3. Confirm direction before proceeding

Do not proceed to Phase 2 without user confirmation.

Phase 2 — PLAN

Goal: A concrete, agreed-upon implementation plan before touching code.

1. Write the plan:

   • Files to create or modify (with paths)
   • Order of operations
   • Key decisions and why the simple path was chosen
   • Dependencies to install

2. Bias toward simplest solution at every decision point

3. Assume single user unless told otherwise — no auth, no multi-tenancy, no over-engineering

4. Present plan, get approval

Do not proceed to Phase 3 without user approval.

Phase 3 — WORK

Goal: Build what was planned. Verify it actually works.

1. Execute the plan step by step
2. After building: run and test the golden path — the core thing it's supposed to do
3. Test at least one edge case
4. Do not report "done" until verified working in the real app
5. If verification fails: fix it before reporting

Phase 4 — REVIEW

Goal: Independent code review as if you didn't write it.

1. Check against the agreed plan — did we build what was approved?
2. Look for: bugs, edge cases, security issues, performance problems
3. Look for: unnecessary complexity, repeated code, things that can be simplified
4. Explain findings in plain language

Report format:

🔴 Critical — [issue: what breaks and when]
🟡 Should fix — [issue: not critical but causes problems]
🟢 Nice to have — [cleanup or improvement, optional]

Phase 5 — DEBUG

Goal: Fix the issues found in Phase 4.

1. Fix 🔴 Critical issues first
2. Fix 🟡 Should fix issues
3. Ask before spending time on 🟢 Nice to have items
4. Re-run verification after each significant fix
5. Confirm everything is clean before closing the task

Phase flow summary

User: "build X"
    ↓
Phase 1: BRAINSTORM — interview → confirm features
    ↓
Phase 2: PLAN — write plan → get approval
    ↓
Phase 3: WORK — build → verify it runs
    ↓
Phase 4: REVIEW — independent audit → flag issues
    ↓
Phase 5: DEBUG — fix issues → re-verify → done