mittuled milestone-definer-eng
Agent: VP Engineering
L1 engineering leader (1x) responsible for spec intake review, team allocation, architecture oversight, velocity monitoring, and go-live approvals. Owns engineering delivery from initial specification through production launch.
Department ethos: ideal-engineering.md
Skill Description
Defines engineering milestones and measurable success criteria that serve as verification checkpoints throughout a delivery.
When to Use
- When a new delivery or project needs intermediate checkpoints between kickoff and go-live.
- When a phase plan is finalized but lacks measurable success criteria at each stage.
- When stakeholders need visibility into engineering progress beyond sprint-level granularity.
Workflow
- Review delivery scope: Read the phase plan, effort estimates, and key deliverables. Identify the major inflection points in the delivery. Deliverable: list of candidate milestone boundaries.
- Define milestones: For each boundary, define a milestone with a name, target date, and binary success criteria (met/not met). Tie each milestone to a tangible artifact or measurable outcome. Deliverable: milestone register.
- Validate with stakeholders: Confirm milestones align with product, design, and business expectations. Adjust sequencing or criteria as needed. Deliverable: approved milestone register.
Anti-Patterns
- Vanity milestones: Defining milestones around activity ("code complete") rather than verifiable outcomes ("API returns correct results for all test scenarios"). Why: activity milestones pass without proving the system works.
- Milestone overload: Setting so many milestones that tracking them becomes overhead. Why: excessive checkpoints slow delivery without improving visibility.
Output
On success: Produces a milestone register containing each milestone's name, target date, success criteria, responsible team, and dependencies. Delivered to the project management tool and shared with all stakeholders.
On failure: Report which milestones could not be defined due to ambiguous scope or missing requirements, and recommend what must be clarified first.
Related Skills
phase-planner-eng-- milestones are derived from and feed back into phase plans.velocity-monitor-- milestone progress is tracked via velocity monitoring.