Launch every sprint. Without the explosions.

The countdown: fifteen calls from plan to lift-off

1. Plan: Plotting the course

   T-15

   Every countdown starts in mission control. The client and crew agree what this sprint is for, check who is on board, and commit to what they can genuinely finish this sprint.

   1. T-15Target

      Agree one goal with the client: the thing that makes this sprint a success.

      Poppie drafts the sprint goal from the roadmap and last sprint's feedback.

   2. T-14Size

      Estimate the work in front of you and check it against who's actually available, people and agents alike.

      Poppie totals the estimates against the crew's capacity and flags overload early.

   3. T-13Schedule

      Pull in what fits the launch window, and nothing it merely hopes to. The rest waits for the next countdown.

      Poppie lays out the sprint board and pencils in the launch date.

   Delivery Lead+Poppie the Planner
2. Prep: Decoding the client's wants and needs

   T-12

   Before anyone touches a keyboard, we survey the launch site. Vague ideas become Epics, Features and User Stories with acceptance criteria you could actually test — and the client joins the crew, because they have jobs to do too.

   1. T-12Gather

      Get the lowdown from the people who'll use it: interviews, workshops, and the spreadsheet everyone secretly relies on.

      Preppie turns meeting transcripts into a first cut of the requirements.

   2. T-11Define

      Turn needs into personas, epics, features and user stories, each with acceptance criteria you could actually test.

      Preppie drafts stories and acceptance criteria for the analyst to sharpen.

   3. T-10Prioritise

      Order the backlog by value with the product owner, so the crew always works on what matters most.

      Preppie spots gaps, duplicates and stories that aren't ready to build.

   Business Analyst+Preppie the Prepper
3. Design: Crafting UX that doesn't suck

   T-9

   Out come the blueprints. Journeys, wireframes and the solution architecture are drawn before they're built, so the weird edge cases get argued about on a whiteboard instead of in production.

   1. T-9Sketch

      Rough ideas on the whiteboard, where changing your mind costs nothing.

      Dannie mocks up screen options in minutes, not days.

   2. T-8Map

      User journeys and wireframes, on brand, walked through with real users and signed off.

      Dannie checks every screen against the brand guidelines.

   3. T-7Architect

      Data, integrations and security decided before a line is built, so the edge cases get argued on paper.

      Archie drafts the solution design and reviews it for risk.

   UX Designer & Architect+Dannie & Archie
4. Engineer: The art of engineering

   T-6

   Up goes the gantry, then the booster. Small branches, clean code and a pipeline that builds every commit. Finish what you start before you start something new.

   1. T-6Build

      Small branches and clean code, with humans and agents building side by side.

      Ernie writes code and tests on a branch, never straight to main.

   2. T-5Review

      Every pull request is reviewed before it lands: a person decides, with agents as a second pair of eyes.

      Ernie and Archie review pull requests for bugs and design drift.

   3. T-4Merge

      Merged, built by the pipeline and deployable. Finish what you start before starting something new.

      Ernie keeps the build green and the branches short-lived.

   Engineer+Ernie the Engineer
5. Test: Raising the bar

   T-3

   Nose cone on, every system checked. The Test Pilot writes test cases from the acceptance criteria as the first line of code is written, so bugs are caught on the pad — not at thirty thousand feet in front of the customer.

   1. T-3Verify

      Every story checked against its acceptance criteria, with the repetitive checks automated.

      Teddie writes and runs end-to-end tests straight from the acceptance criteria.

   2. T-2Harden

      Security and performance tested before the release meets real traffic, not after.

      Pennie probes for weaknesses while Teddie load-tests the release.

   3. T-1Accept

      The client tries it, the important stories pass, and they sign it off. All systems go.

      Teddie prepares a short UAT plan anyone on the client's team can follow.

   Tester+Teddie the Tester
6. Operate: Shipping value, not just code

   T-0

   Lift-off. Release pipelines fly the build safely through every environment, monitoring watches the flight, and feedback lands straight back in the backlog. Then the countdown starts again — that’s the loop.

   1. T-0Launch

      Released through the pipeline. An anti-dramatic launch, because the drama happened in testing.

      Ollie runs the release pipeline and writes release notes people actually read.

   2. T+Monitor

      The mission clock keeps running: monitoring, support and feedback from real users.

      Ollie watches the telemetry and raises issues before users notice them.

   3. T-15Repeat

      Feedback lands in the backlog, the crew holds a retro, and the next countdown begins at T-15.

      Ollie feeds incidents and usage data back into the backlog for planning.

   Operations Engineer+Ollie the Operator