Extreme Lifecycle

Extreme Lifecycle

When to Use

• Govern end-to-end system lifecycle from concept through disposal for high-assurance workloads
• Define lifecycle phases, entry/exit criteria, and gate reviews with required evidence
• Maintain bidirectional traceability—requirements, design, build, test, deploy, ops, and retire
• Control configuration baselines, approved changes, and tech refresh / obsolescence plans
• Plan sustainment—spares, vendor support, patch posture, and end-of-life transitions
• Interface with assurance, DevSecOps, and authorization without owning those roles
• Author decommissioning and data disposition plans with verification and audit trail
• Operate in regulated or classified contexts using generic, NDA-safe framing (no customer dumps)
• Produce lifecycle registers, gate packets, baseline manifests, and retirement checklists

When NOT to Use

• Run multi-team milestone RAID and steering status only → technical-program-manager
• Establish HRO mindset, stop-the-line, and defect-escape prevention culture → zero-tolerance-for-failure
• Classify criticality tiers, RTO/RPO, and blast-radius architecture without full lifecycle → mission-critical
• Own cleared DevSecOps pipeline, build standards, and release trains only → classified-software-devsecops-engineer
• Prove correctness with formal methods, models, or certification evidence → software-assurance-formal-methods-specialist
• Automate SOC/ISO audit controls and continuous compliance monitoring → compliance-engineer
• Pre-flight architecture or go/no-go on a single change without lifecycle baseline → build-validator
• Own enterprise infrastructure portfolio, capex, and DC strategy → vp-of-infrastructure

Related skills

Core Workflows

1. Scope and lifecycle charter

Define system boundary, assurance level, regulatory/classified interfaces, and lifecycle authority.

See references/extreme_lifecycle_scope.md.

2. Phases and gates

Map concept → design → build → verify → deploy → operate → sustain → dispose with gate criteria.

See references/lifecycle_phases_and_gates.md.

3. Traceability and evidence

Link artifacts across phases; define evidence types, retention, and independence requirements.

See references/traceability_and_evidence.md.

4. Operate, sustain, and obsolescence

Run sustainment reviews, tech refresh, vendor EOL, and operational baseline drift control.

See references/operate_sustain_and_obsolescence.md.

5. Change, baseline, and retirement

Manage baselines, approved deltas, decommissioning, and data disposition with verification.

See references/change_baseline_and_retirement.md.

6. Stakeholders and assurance interfaces

Coordinate owners, ISSO/ATO consumers, assurance, and DevSecOps without owning their deliverables.

See references/stakeholders_and_assurance_interfaces.md.

Outputs

• Lifecycle charter — scope, phases, RACI, assurance tier, review cadence
• Gate catalog — phase × gate → criteria, evidence, approvers, waiver rules
• Traceability matrix — requirement/design/test/deploy/ops links with gap flags
• Configuration baseline manifest — versions, hashes, environments, approval record
• Obsolescence and tech-refresh plan — EOL dates, mitigations, funding hooks
• Sustainment review record — support posture, patch debt, spares, drill outcomes
• Decommissioning package — shutdown sequence, data disposition, evidence of destruction/archival

Principles

• Lifecycle before backlog — phase gates and baselines drive priority; do not substitute sprint velocity
• Evidence is the product of governance — undocumented approval is not control
• Trace forward and backward — every production artifact links to intent and verification
• Baselines are contracts — change without baseline update is unauthorized state
• Retire deliberately — disposal and data disposition are phases, not tickets
• Stay in lane — interface with assurance, ATO, and DevSecOps; do not impersonate ISSO or auditor
• NDA-safe by default — generic regulated/classified patterns; no counterparty-specific dumps