The Standard Flow — venture methodology

The standard lifecycle this template guides every venture through: Ideate → Plan → Build → Grow → Operate. Design research is the core that grounds every phase. The CPTO and Principal govern phase gates and methodology integrity; the Design Research Director provides the gate evidence at each phase.

Entry points

The system is entered exactly two ways — there are no others:

1. JSON ideation spec (primary). A JSON-formatted ideation spec injected by the Principal, sourced from the monorepo. It is the initial ideation — it seeds the Ideate phase. Begin work as soon as it arrives.
2. Direct chat. Conversational direction to the Principal and agents.

Illustrative shape (confirm against the monorepo’s actual output on first inject):

{
  "id": "string",
  "title": "string",
  "problem": "string",
  "audience": "string",
  "constraints": ["string"],
  "success_criteria": ["string"],
  "concept_seeds": ["string"],
  "source": "monorepo:<path-or-id>"
}

A staged draft of this contract lives at specs/ideation-spec.draft.json — adjust it to the monorepo’s actual output on first inject.

Principles

• Research-grounded. Every phase advances on evidence, not assumption.
• Lean. Build only what the spec and the evidence justify; gates prevent over-building.

The flow

flowchart LR
  SPEC[/"JSON ideation spec<br/>(from the monorepo)"/]
  CHAT[/"Direct chat"/]
  SPEC --> I
  CHAT -.-> I
  I["Ideate"] --> P["Plan"] --> B["Build"] --> G["Grow"] --> O["Operate"]
  O -.->|needs evolve| I

  DR["Design Research — the core spine"]
  DR --- I
  DR --- P
  DR --- B
  DR --- G
  DR --- O

  classDef phase fill:#1d4ed8,color:#fff,stroke:#1e3a8a;
  classDef core fill:#0f766e,color:#fff,stroke:#134e4a;
  classDef entry fill:#7c3aed,color:#fff,stroke:#5b21b6;
  class I,P,B,G,O phase;
  class DR core;
  class SPEC,CHAT entry;

Design research — at our core

Design research is not a phase; it is the continuous spine through all of them. Every gate requires evidence produced by research:

• Generative — concepts and “how might we” framing (Ideate).
• Evaluative — usability / concept / prototype testing (Plan & Build).
• Telemetry & feedback — in-market and in-operation signals (Grow & Operate, and the next ideation cycle).

Phases

Each has a purpose, its design research, deliverables, an exit gate, and leads. Advance only when the gate’s bar is met.

1 · Ideate (seeded by the injected ideation spec)

Template note: the ideation spec injection is a post-clone, per-venture action performed by the Principal of a downstream repo — not a to-do in the KLMS master template itself. In this repo, the venture (KLMS platform + YouTube flywheel) is already underway; docs/concept.md is the live concept. The spec contract at specs/ideation-spec.draft.json is the template artifact for new clones to fill and inject.

• Purpose: turn the ideation spec into a concept that’s worth building.
• Design research: generative research; “how might we”; concept testing.
• Deliverables: the concept (docs/concept.md), value proposition, and the rubric for “good.”
• Gate: a concept that addresses the spec’s problem and passes the operational-review prompt (prompts/thoroughness-gaps.md).
• Leads: CPTO + Design Research Director; Documentarian; Golden Rule (rules from ideas). Gate reviewed by the Principal.

2 · Plan

• Purpose: turn the concept into a buildable plan.
• Design research: define success metrics; prototyping & research plan; ontology.
• Deliverables: a project plan / roadmap — milestones, metrics, and the operational pieces (rubric, ontology, instrumentation, governance).
• Gate: a plan with milestones, metrics, and operational specifics. Reviewed by the CPTO and Principal.
• Leads: CPTO; Documentarian (plan); Project Manager (sequencing).

3 · Build

• Purpose: build the smallest valuable slice; iterate.
• Design research: usability testing; prototype evaluation; “show the work” loops.
• Deliverables: a working slice + evidence it meets the rubric.
• Gate: passes the rubric / definition of done; measured. Reviewed by the CPTO and Principal.
• Leads: Engineering Director; Quality & Risk Director.

4 · Grow

• Purpose: distribution, audience, and the flywheels.
• Design research: audience/market research; channel & funnel experiments.
• Deliverables: growth experiments + results (the venture’s flywheels).
• Gate: a repeatable growth signal. Reviewed by the CPTO and Principal.
• Leads: Growth Director; CPTO.

5 · Operate

• Purpose: run it sustainably and keep improving.
• Design research: ongoing feedback; telemetry; retrospectives.
• Deliverables: an operating cadence (daily briefing/report, reviews, runbooks).
• Gate: stable operations + an improvement loop → loops back to Ideate as needs evolve.
• Leads: Operations (planned unit); Archivist (records); PA (cadence); External Review Partners (reviews).

On “needs analysis”

Needs analysis in this system is the agent-tooling practice (GR-4), and it is deferred until we tool the agents: before adding tools/MCP wiring to an agent, first analyze what capability it actually needs, for what, under what constraints. It is not a venture phase — the venture is entered at Ideate via the ideation spec.

Phase gates

Between phases is a gate. The CPTO and Principal review the evidence and the deliverable and advance the venture only when the bar is met — keeping it lean and research-grounded. The Design Research Director provides the gate evidence. Formal gate reviews use External Review Partners (360°) and /agents:review.

Note: the Mentor agent (formerly staff to the Principal) was offboarded 2026-05-31 by Principal directive. Gate and methodology responsibilities previously held by that role now sit with the CPTO and Principal directly.

Mapping to the four roles

• Ideator = Ideate (from the injected spec).
• Incubator = Plan (structuring the venture, validating specs).
• Builder = Build (engineering execution and product delivery).
• Operator = Grow + Operate (scaling, running, improving).
• The guide function across every gate is owned by the CPTO and Principal directly.