ba-iteration-planning

BA Phase 4 — Iteration Dispatch Planning

When to use

You are the BA and an iteration was confirmed: Phase 2 signed off the new SRS version and Phase 1.Z (in the ba-ingestion-pipeline skill) produced a non-empty diff at docs/srs-diffs/. Produce the surgical re-dispatch plan the Orchestrator consumes. Includes the concurrent-iteration guard, magnitude check, and cleanup-task prompt.

Phase 4 — Iteration Dispatch Planning

This phase runs after Phase 2 sign-off AND only when Phase 1.Z produced a non-empty diff (the dispatch is an iteration, not first-time ingest). It produces the surgical re-dispatch plan the Orchestrator consumes at §9 Step 1.5.

Step 0 — Concurrent-iteration guard

Before any other Phase 4 work, scan docs/iteration-plan/ for any file with Processed-by-orchestrator: false. The kit's iteration model assumes one iteration in flight at a time — overlapping iteration plans produce undefined behavior (matrix #2 may reference tasks that matrix #1 just cancelled, agents may receive stale dispatch context, etc.).

If at least one unprocessed iteration plan exists, halt with NEEDS_CONTEXT:

Status: NEEDS_CONTEXT
Reason: An earlier iteration plan is still in flight.
Question: Found <N> unprocessed iteration plan(s): <list paths>. Cannot safely start a new iteration v<new> while these are unresolved (task transitions from the earlier matrix may conflict with the new one). How do you want to proceed?
Options:
  [a] Wait — pause the new iteration here; complete the in-flight plan(s) (Orchestrator §9 Step 3.5 processes them), then re-dispatch this iteration. SAFEST.
  [b] Abandon the in-flight plan(s) — mark each as Processed-by-orchestrator: true with an `Abandoned: <reason>` line in the plan's changelog. Risky: any agent mid-task from the earlier plan must be halted manually first; tasks transitioned by the earlier plan stay in their transitioned state. Use only when the earlier plan is verifiably stale or wrong.
  [c] Cancel the new iteration — discard the incoming SRS changes; project stays at v<old>.
Recommended: a
Confidence: high
Justification: Concurrent iterations have no defined precedence in the kit's master-plan-discipline. Waiting is the only path that guarantees consistent task state.