THE CYCLE

Four stages. Same sequence every cycle.

Plan, Build, Wrap, Feedback — every problem goes through the same loop. Each stage has an owner. Each stage produces an artifact your team can read.

Start the first cycle

Plan — A-phase

Scope and roadmap

Architect reads your codebase and problem seed. Every acceptance criterion is broken into a work item before a line of code is written.

You sign off on

Roadmap + scope

Build

Execute and review

Engineers write, a dedicated review step gates every PR, a verifier confirms the live surface. Each deliverable closes with a commit, a test, and a review verdict.

You sign off on

PR diffs + merges

Wrap

Measure and record

The engine reads the engagement record. A retro is written. Velocity measured. The independent reviewer checks the trail. Process improvements proposed for the next engagement.

Engine records

Retro + record

Feedback

Compound improvement

Retro findings feed the next A-phase. Cycle 5 is faster than cycle 1 because the engine has absorbed your feedback, standards, and process corrections.

Engine corrects

Scope + conventions

Audit trail

Every action attributed

Every change is attributable to a named role. The engagement record IS the project record — no parallel tracking system, no status spreadsheet.

Human gates

You approve what merges

Every PR passes through a review step before merge. Every live deploy passes a verification step. Nothing reaches main without human sign-off.

Self-correcting

Retros feed the next cycle

The wrap phase is not ceremony. Retro findings become literal amendments to the next cycle's plan. What slipped in cycle 2 is corrected in cycle 3.

In wakalix, "how it works" is not a promise — it's a verifiable process. Every cycle produces an attributable engagement record, a retro, and a set of merged PRs. After cycle 1, you have a complete record of what was scoped, what was built, what was reviewed, and what slipped. After cycle 5, the record shows how the engine corrected itself. You don't have to trust the process — you can read it.

See the cycle in detail.

Phase-by-phase breakdown — what each stage produces and who owns it.

How cycles work