Discovery to handover: the FDE delivery loop
Updated
The six-stage loop every engagement runs: discover, frame, build, ship, operate, hand over, with the artifact each stage owes.
Most engagements fail in the gaps between stages, not inside them. The loop names the gaps so nothing falls through.
The short answer
Run every slice through six stages and collect six artifacts. Skip a stage deliberately and in writing, never by accident.
The loop and its debts
| Stage | Artifact | Owes an answer to |
|---|---|---|
| Discover | Interview notes + problem number | "What hurts, how much?" |
| Frame | One-page brief, signed | "What exactly, and what is out?" |
| Build | Working code + tests | "Does it run on real data?" |
| Ship | Deployment + rollback test | "Can we undo it at 3am?" |
| Operate | Dashboard + first metrics | "Did it work, measured how?" |
| Hand over | Runbook + owners + recording | "Can they run it without us?" |
Worked example: one slice, one week
Monday: two interviews, brief v1 signed. Tuesday-Wednesday: read-only lookup page on fixtures, then live labels. Thursday: shadow-mode comparison against the old process, rollback tested in staging. Friday: readout with the lookup-time number, runbook v1, named owner. Six stages, five days, one artifact each. The Foundations M01 lessons walk this loop in full.
Checklist: loop discipline
- Every slice names its six artifacts before starting.
- Skipped stages are written down with a reason and a date to revisit.
- Metrics are defined before go-live, reviewed two weeks after.
- Handover has a date, not a hope.
Related reading
Straight answers
Frequently asked questions
What are the loop stages?
Discover, frame, build, ship, operate, hand over. Each owes an artifact: notes, brief, code, deployment, metrics, handover package.
Is the loop strictly sequential?
No. Small slices cycle fast; a lookup page can loop in a week. The stages are checkpoints, not quarters.
Where do engagements die?
Between ship and operate: deployed but unmeasured, unowned, undocumented. The loop makes that gap visible.