Orchestrate Next Milestone

Orchestrate Next Milestone

Overview

Execute the selected plan milestone to closure, not just partial checkboxes. Prioritize finishing the milestone with passing gates and clear evidence.

Terminology Alignment

• Milestone: primary planning unit with deliverables and gates.
• Workstream: parallel lane inside a milestone.
• Work package: coder-sized chunk with acceptance criteria and verification commands.
• Patch: reviewable code change set used in summaries and changelog entries.
• Stage / Step / Pass: durable pipeline terms for code identifiers when needed.
• If older plans use "phase", treat it as legacy milestone wording and do not introduce new phase terminology.

Operating mode

• Treat the manager-selected milestone as the primary target.
• Implement code, tests, and documentation updates required to close that milestone.
• Include adjacent fixes when they are necessary to pass milestone gates or prevent immediate regressions.
• Keep changes contract-driven and avoid case-specific hacks.

Inputs to read first

0. Review STYLE guides in AGENTS.md, docs/PYTHON_STYLE.md, and docs/REPO_STYLE.md
1. Manager directive naming the target milestone (or latest explicit manager instruction).
2. Target plan in docs/active_plans/ (if present in the target repo; or use specified path).
3. refactor_progress.md for active/completed context (if present in the target repo).
4. Related archive precedent if cited by the plan.
5. Current repo state (git status --short, git diff).

Mandatory constraints

• Treat the plan design philosophy near the top as binding architecture policy.
• Do not stop at partial progress when the remaining work is directly required to close the selected milestone.
• Do not ask for guidance before attempting concrete unblock steps.
• Do not weaken strict gates to force a pass.
• Do not move geometry/runtime policy into tool/report layers unless the plan explicitly requires it.
• Do not claim completion without reproducible command evidence.

Scope policy

• Primary scope: selected milestone deliverables and done checks.
• Allowed adjacent scope: fixes that are strictly required to satisfy selected-milestone gates.
• Deferred scope: improvements not required for selected-milestone closure.

When adjacent scope is used, record:

• why it was required,
• what gate it unblocked,
• why deferral would leave the milestone incomplete.

Workflow

1. Lock the target milestone:

• Identify exact milestone id/name and extract deliverables, done checks, and gates.
• Record explicit out-of-scope items from later milestones.

2. Build execution map:

• Map deliverables to file paths.
• Map work packages and done checks/gates to exact commands.
• Identify likely adjacent fixes needed for closure.

3. Implement to closure:

• Apply required edits for the milestone.
• Apply adjacent unblock fixes when needed.
• Keep design-philosophy alignment explicit in decisions.

4. Validate gates:

• Run milestone-required tests/commands first.
• Run broader regression gates required by the plan.
• Run targeted pytest regression: source source_me.sh && python3 -m pytest -q tests/test*.py -k <file>/py.
• Treat any failing pytest run as Not complete until fixed.
• Iterate until gates pass or a concrete blocker remains.

5. Prepare evidence:

• Capture command outputs and pass/fail results.
• Capture before/after artifacts when visuals/behavior are part of acceptance.
• Capture residual risks and ownership.

6. Close out docs:

• Update docs/CHANGELOG.md with concrete changes and validation commands/results.
• Update plan status language only when evidence supports closure.

Implementation checklist template

• Milestone target:
• Deliverables completed:
• Adjacent fixes applied (and why):
• Deferred items:
• Files changed:
• Work packages completed:
• Patches delivered:
• Commands run:
• Gate results:
• Remaining blockers:
• Completion decision: Complete or Not complete

Failure handling

• If milestone target is ambiguous, pick the most recent manager-specified milestone and state the assumption.
• If gates conflict, follow the plan-defined gate hierarchy and report the conflict explicitly.
• If blocked, report exact blocker plus attempted mitigations; do not present partial work as complete.

Manager completion report (required)

Submit one manager-grade close-out report at milestone close-out using this structure.

Required sections:

1. Milestone decision: Complete or Not complete.
2. Scope execution: what was completed, what was deferred, and why.
3. Files changed: exact paths grouped by runtime/tests/docs/tooling.
4. Gate evidence: exact commands with PASS/FAIL.
5. Design philosophy alignment: how implementation followed plan philosophy and avoided hacks.
6. Visual/behavior evidence: before/after paths and measured values (when required).
7. Patch summary: Patch 1, Patch 2, ... with intent and touched components.
8. Open risks: unresolved risks with impact and owner.
9. Next action: one prioritized next step.

Report template:

Milestone decision: Complete | Not complete

Scope execution:
- Completed:
- Deferred:
- Adjacent fixes (required for closure):

Files changed:
- Runtime:
- Tests:
- Docs:
- Tooling:

Patch summary:
- Patch 1:
- Patch 2:

Gate evidence:
- <command>: PASS/FAIL
- <command>: PASS/FAIL

Design philosophy alignment:
- <how implementation stayed aligned and avoided hacks>

Visual/behavior evidence:
- Before: <path>
- After: <path>
- Measurements: <metric=value, threshold=value>

Open risks:
- <risk, impact, owner>

Next action:
- <single prioritized next step>

Output contract

Return results in this order:

1. Milestone completion decision (Complete or Not complete).
2. Deliverables implemented (mapped to files).
3. Work packages and patch summary (Patch 1, Patch 2, ...).
4. Validation evidence (commands and outcomes).
5. Known gaps and risks.
6. Next action recommendation.