Project Lifecycle Management
Managing OSpec projects from creation to maintenance
Project Lifecycle Management
OSpec defines a structured lifecycle for projects from inception through long-term maintenance, with clear handoffs between agent roles and human oversight points.
Lifecycle Phases
1. Specification Phase
Role: Specifier Agent + Human Stakeholder
Activities:
- Convert requirements to OSpec YAML
- Define acceptance criteria
- Select technology stack
- Configure guardrails
- Set up secret providers
Outputs:
- Valid OSpec document
- Initial context prompts
- Secret configuration
Quality Gates:
- Specification validates against schema
- Acceptance criteria are testable
- Security guardrails defined
- All required secrets identified
# Example specification metadata
metadata:
phase: "specification"
version: "1.0.0"
created: "2024-01-15T10:00:00Z"
specifier: "human+ai"
stakeholders:
- role: "product_owner"
contact: "team@company.com"
- role: "tech_lead"
contact: "tech@company.com"
2. Planning Phase
Role: Planner Agent
Activities:
- Decompose outcome into tasks
- Identify dependencies
- Estimate complexity
- Plan implementation phases
- Define checkpoint criteria
Outputs:
- Task breakdown structure
- Dependency graph
- Implementation timeline
- Risk assessment
Quality Gates:
- All acceptance criteria covered
- Dependencies mapped
- Resource requirements identified
- Risk mitigation planned
tasks:
- id: "setup-project"
phase: "foundation"
dependencies: []
estimated_hours: 2
priority: "critical"
- id: "implement-auth"
phase: "core"
dependencies: ["setup-project"]
estimated_hours: 8
priority: "high"
- id: "add-ui-components"
phase: "features"
dependencies: ["implement-auth"]
estimated_hours: 12
priority: "medium"
3. Implementation Phase
Role: Implementer Agent + Reviewer
Activities:
- Execute planned tasks
- Write and test code
- Run security scans
- Generate documentation
- Create deployment artifacts
Outputs:
- Working software
- Test suites
- Security reports
- Documentation
- Deployment configuration
Quality Gates:
- All tests pass
- Security scans clear
- Acceptance criteria met
- Code review approved
# Implementation tracking
implementation:
started: "2024-01-16T09:00:00Z"
completed: "2024-01-20T17:00:00Z"
tasks_completed: 15
tasks_total: 18
tests_passing: 142
tests_total: 145
security_issues: 0
coverage_percentage: 87
4. Validation Phase
Role: Reviewer Agent + Human Approver
Activities:
- Execute acceptance tests
- Validate against requirements
- Perform final security review
- User acceptance testing
- Performance validation
Outputs:
- Test results
- Security clearance
- Performance metrics
- Approval documentation
Quality Gates:
- All acceptance criteria met
- Security review passed
- Performance requirements met
- Human approval obtained
5. Deployment Phase
Role: Implementer Agent + Operations
Activities:
- Deploy to production
- Configure monitoring
- Set up alerts
- Document operations procedures
- Verify live system
Outputs:
- Live system
- Monitoring dashboards
- Alert configurations
- Operations runbook
Quality Gates:
- Deployment successful
- Health checks passing
- Monitoring active
- Rollback plan ready
6. Maintenance Phase
Role: Human Team + Support Agents
Activities:
- Monitor system health
- Apply security updates
- Performance optimization
- Feature enhancements
- Bug fixes
Outputs:
- System updates
- Performance reports
- Security patches
- Enhancement plans
State Management
Project State Tracking
# Project state document
project_state:
current_phase: "implementation"
overall_progress: 65
phases:
specification:
status: "completed"
completed_at: "2024-01-15T15:00:00Z"
artifacts:
- "project.ospec.yaml"
- "secrets.config.yaml"
planning:
status: "completed"
completed_at: "2024-01-16T08:00:00Z"
artifacts:
- "tasks.yaml"
- "dependencies.yaml"
implementation:
status: "in_progress"
started_at: "2024-01-16T09:00:00Z"
progress: 83
current_tasks:
- "implement-user-dashboard"
- "add-data-export"
Handoff Protocols
Each phase transition requires explicit handoff with validation:
handoffs:
specification_to_planning:
triggers:
- "spec_validation_passed"
- "stakeholder_approval"
requirements:
- "valid_ospec_document"
- "defined_acceptance_criteria"
- "configured_guardrails"
planning_to_implementation:
triggers:
- "task_breakdown_approved"
- "dependencies_resolved"
requirements:
- "complete_task_list"
- "resource_allocation"
- "risk_assessment"
Quality Assurance
Continuous Validation
Throughout the lifecycle, continuous validation ensures quality:
- Specification Validation
- Schema compliance
- Completeness checks
- Consistency verification
- Implementation Validation
- Code quality metrics
- Test coverage requirements
- Security scan results
- Deployment Validation
- Health check verification
- Performance benchmarks
- Security posture assessment
Rollback Procedures
Each phase includes rollback procedures for failure scenarios:
rollback_procedures:
implementation_failure:
- "revert_to_last_known_good"
- "notify_stakeholders"
- "analyze_failure_cause"
- "update_risk_assessment"
deployment_failure:
- "execute_rollback_plan"
- "restore_previous_version"
- "verify_system_health"
- "conduct_post_incident_review"
Metrics and Reporting
Key Performance Indicators
- Specification Quality: Clarity, completeness, testability scores
- Planning Accuracy: Estimate vs actual duration, dependency prediction
- Implementation Quality: Test coverage, bug density, security score
- Deployment Success: Uptime, performance metrics, rollback frequency
- Maintenance Efficiency: Response time, resolution rate, update frequency
Progress Reporting
Automated progress reports provide stakeholders with regular updates:
# Weekly progress report structure
progress_report:
week: "2024-W03"
overall_status: "on_track"
completion_percentage: 65
milestones:
- name: "Authentication System"
status: "completed"
completed_ahead_of_schedule: "2 days"
- name: "User Dashboard"
status: "in_progress"
expected_completion: "2024-01-22"
blockers: []
metrics:
velocity: "12 story_points/week"
defect_rate: "0.02 bugs/feature"
test_coverage: "87%"
security_score: "A+"