Appendix

Quick Reference: P-Cubed

Prepare → Prove → Produce

P-Cubed is a mnemonic, not a methodology. It compresses practices you may already run; the phases matter because each has an exit criterion.

Identify What You Have

Level Size Your Job
Problem Undefined Discovery → Define Initiative
Initiative Weeks/Months Decompose → Define Epics
Epic Days/Weeks P-Cubed → Produce Tasks
Task 1-2 Days Execute → Ship

The Phases

Prepare

List what you do not know. Rank the unknowns by what kills the epic if you are wrong.

Discovery:

  • Ask questions
  • Track unknowns explicitly
  • Talk to people with context
  • Declare your status: "I'm in discovery on this"

Surface tradeoffs:

  • What does each option optimize for?
  • What are we giving up?
  • What's the cost to change later?

Planning:

  • Break into Tasks (1-2 days each)
  • Write: "This is done when ___."
  • Sequence load-bearing work first

Exits when: The critical unknowns are named, each with the evidence that would resolve it. If you cannot name the evidence, you may have found an anxiety, not a test.

Prove

Two questions decide what needs proving:

  1. How expensive is this decision to reverse?
  2. How much better will the information get if I wait?

Expensive to reverse and much to learn by waiting: build a cheap proof first. That is Prove.

  • Spike the riskiest assumption (timeboxed, throwaway)
  • Walking skeleton for cross-system work: target the contact surface
  • Roadmaps are value-ordered; slice lists are risk-ordered. Translate deliberately.

Exits when: The highest-risk unknown has a meaningful answer. "No" counts. Prove code has no entitlement to survive.

Produce

Begins when no load-bearing uncertainty remains untested, unbounded, or hidden.

For each Task:

  1. Confirm what done looks like
  2. Build to the scoped definition
  3. Check criteria, not feelings
  4. Ship, communicate, move on

After each Task:

  • What did you learn?
  • Adjust the remaining plan if needed

Exits when: The capability exists and the proof artifacts are deleted, isolated, or consciously promoted. Scaffolding still up is not done.

The Checklist

Before you start:

  • [ ] What level is this?
  • [ ] What does done look like? (Written down)
  • [ ] What's load-bearing?

Before you build:

  • [ ] Tradeoffs documented
  • [ ] Riskiest assumption proved
  • [ ] Tasks scoped to 1-2 days

Before you ship:

  • [ ] Criteria met (check the definition, not your feelings)
  • [ ] Proof artifacts cleaned up
  • [ ] Communicated to stakeholders

Define done before you start. Check criteria, not feelings. Ship when done means done. The criteria scale with the work: a one-day task does not need multi-quarter ceremony.