Phased delivery — connection to the SDLC foundation
Phased delivery organizes work into sequential or overlapping stages with gates (approvals, artifacts). The blueprint’s A–F phases still apply as a lifecycle vocabulary; phased methods add baselines, change control, and…
1. SDLC A–F vs project stages
Blueprint phase
Typical phased stage artifacts
A — Shape
Charter, business case, high-level requirements
B — Plan
Schedule, WBS, detailed design baseline
C — Build
Construction / implementation per baseline
D — Verify
Test phases (unit, integration, UAT), audits
E — Release
Deployment plan, go-live checklist, handover
F — Operate & learn
Warranty, hypercare, benefits realization
Prescriptive rule: Map your stage names to A–F in the project RAID or handbook so agents and audits speak one language.
2. Tracking spine (mandatory)
Phased projects often use documents more than boards; still maintain:
Artifact
Phased expression
Intent
CR / requirement ID in RM tool
Spec
SRS, design doc baseline
Plan
WBS + schedule activity
Tasks
Work packages
PRs
Still link implementation to requirement IDs
Reviews
Inspection records, approval signatures
Release
Release record, CM tag
3. Ceremony intents ↔ phased meetings
Intent
Phased ceremony examples
C1
Steering committee; gate review go/no-go
C2
Planning workshop; design review
C3
War room; weekly status (execution)
C4
Test readiness review; UAT sign-off
C5
Post-implementation review (PIR); lessons learned
C6
Knowledge transfer; training handover
4. Role archetypes
Role
Archetypes
Sponsor / SRO
Sponsor proxy, Steer
Project / program manager
Orchestrator
Business analyst
Orchestrator, Implementer (specs)
Tech lead / architect
Quality advocate, Implementer
Delivery team
Implementer
5. Anti-patterns
Anti-pattern
Fix
Gate as paperwork only
Define objective exit criteria per gate
Late scope via informal email
Route through change control (see blueprint change chapter)
UAT as first real user test
Shift C4 left with incremental builds where possible