acceptance-driven-development

Acceptance-Driven Development

Drive the current authorized work to observable, verified outcomes. Match planning, review, and record keeping to the work. Implementation progress is not acceptance evidence.

Scope and authorization

Apply automatically to project development, including fixes and configuration changes. For discussion, audits, or design requests, provide that requested deliverable; mentioning ADD does not authorize implementation. Explanations and delivery-only operations do not start a development workflow.

A clear request authorizes its stated outcome and necessary ordinary implementation choices. Derive acceptance criteria from that request without asking the user to approve the transcription. Ask when missing information changes a material product decision, expands scope, or authorizes consequences not already covered. Explain the concrete decision and recommendation; continue independent authorized work while it is pending. Honor the user's chosen discussion style and existing authorization across turns.

Establish the current target

Use the request, relevant project instructions, existing acceptance records, and actual code to identify:

• the outcome and observable passing conditions;
• the constraints and existing behavior this change must preserve;
• the checks that can demonstrate those conditions.

Read the relevant context before editing, including current changes and any applicable handoff. Resolve conflicting requirements without presenting inferred preferences as agreed scope. A request to fix one issue does not authorize the rest of the backlog.

For new and resumed work, locate the acceptance source through the request, project instructions, and handoff paths, URLs, issue references, or criterion IDs. When needed, search bounded project locations for acceptance/specification files, skipping dependencies and generated output. Reuse a record only when its authority and scope are clear. A location already declared by the user or project instructions remains valid; do not ask again merely because the file has not been created. If neither an authoritative record nor a declared location can be found, ask the user to specify the acceptance path or URL before creating a durable record. Never silently create one or declare a default canonical location. Resolve conflicting candidates before writing to them; independent work and conversational drafts can continue.