Kaizen Loop

Kaizen Loop

Use this workflow when the task starts with product evaluation rather than a known implementation request. First evaluate the product as a user, engineer, and maintainer; then present concrete improvement candidates; after the user approves items, execute them with implement-to-merge-ready and repeat the evaluation loop.

Workflow

1. Establish evaluation scope.
   • Identify the product, target user, primary workflows, success criteria, repository, branch, and deployment or local run path.
   • Read local instructions such as AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md.
   • Inspect git status and preserve unrelated user changes.
   • Ask only when the evaluation target or approval boundary is unclear.
2. Set an evaluation goal.
   • Use goal tracking for product-wide evaluation or work expected to continue into implementation and PR follow-up.
   • Include evaluation, recommendation, approval gate, approved implementation, verification, PR creation, and merge-readiness follow-up.
3. Build product understanding.
   • Read product docs, routes, screens, tests, analytics assumptions, configuration, and recent changes.
   • Run the app locally when practical.
   • For frontend products, inspect key screens in a real browser across representative desktop and mobile viewports.
   • For APIs or libraries, inspect public interfaces, examples, error behavior, docs, and test coverage.
4. Evaluate relevant dimensions.
   • User value, UX/UI, correctness, performance, reliability, engineering quality, security, privacy, docs, and release risk.
   • Label inferences clearly when evidence is indirect.
5. Produce an evaluation report before editing.
   • Lead with highest-impact findings.
   • For each candidate include problem, impact, evidence, likely fix direction, estimated scope, risk, and suggested verification.
   • Separate must-fix defects from product improvements and speculative ideas.
6. Ask for approval to proceed.
   • Present a short prioritized list of recommended improvements.
   • Treat silence or ambiguity as no approval for implementation.
   • If multiple items are approved, group them into the smallest coherent PRs.
7. Implement approved improvements only.
   • Use implement-to-merge-ready for each approved change or coherent group.
   • Use ui-imagegen-director before coding when UI visual direction matters.
   • Do not opportunistically fix unapproved items.
8. Review, open PRs, and bring them toward merge-ready.
   • Self-review against the approved scope and evaluation evidence.
   • Open regular ready-for-review PRs by default.
   • Monitor CI and review feedback when practical.
9. Re-evaluate after approved changes.
   • Confirm the approved problems were resolved.
   • Identify newly visible opportunities and wait for approval before repeating.

Recommendation Format

Evaluation summary:
- <one short product-level assessment>

Recommended improvements:
1. <title> [impact: high|medium|low, scope: small|medium|large]
   Problem: <what is wrong>
   Evidence: <what was observed>
   Fix direction: <what should change>
   Verification: <how to know it worked>

Please tell me which item numbers to implement.

Guardrails

• Evaluation may inspect broadly, but implementation must stay within approved scope.
• Do not fabricate user research, metrics, analytics, security findings, or benchmark results.
• Prefer concrete, verifiable improvements over broad redesign advice.
• Do not merge PRs unless the user explicitly asks and repository policy permits it.

Final Report

Include evaluation scope and evidence, approved improvements implemented, PR URLs/branches/status, verification before and after implementation, resolved issues, remaining recommendations, and goal status when used.