How I work
How I work
The process I apply to every requirement, the conditions a ticket must meet before it goes to the development team, and the principles I follow when AI takes part in the work.
The 6-step process
- Intake & clarificationMeeting minutes, Clarifying questions
- Analysis & designBRD / SRS, Wireframe, Business rules
- Handover to DevJira tickets, Acceptance criteria
- Testing & verificationTest cases, Bug reports
- UAT & acceptanceUAT checklist, Acceptance record
- Measurement & improvementWeekly report, KPI dashboard
Measurement & improvement → Intake & clarification · repeated steps become the standard for the next request
Intake & clarification
- What I do
- Meet the client or read their request, then ask follow-up questions from a checklist: goal, users, business rules, exceptions, data, integrations. Record the meeting and add the transcript to the project knowledge vault.
- Output documents
- Meeting minutes, list of clarifying questions, confirmed original requirement
- Condition to move on
- The client confirms my understanding in writing
Analysis & design
- What I do
- As-Is/To-Be, impact assessment on existing modules by reading the codebase and the dev database, writing business rules, drawing user flows, wireframes and data mapping.
- Output documents
- BRD, PRD, SRS or mini-spec; user flow; wireframe; business rules table; ERD
- Condition to move on
- No open question left that affects scope
Handover to Dev
- What I do
- Split Epic → Story → Task, write acceptance criteria in Given/When/Then form, attach flows and mockups, review the Definition of Ready with Dev.
- Output documents
- Jira tickets that meet the Definition of Ready
- Condition to move on
- Dev confirms they understand and can estimate
Testing & verification
- What I do
- Write test scenarios and test cases from the acceptance criteria. Agents run the cases that can be automated first; I verify failed and complex cases, reproduce and log bugs.
- Output documents
- Test cases, test report, bug reports with evidence
- Condition to move on
- No Blocker or Critical bug still open
UAT & acceptance
- What I do
- Prepare the UAT checklist, guide the client through UAT, turn feedback into tickets, close with sign-off.
- Output documents
- UAT checklist, acceptance record
- Condition to move on
- The client signs off in writing
Measurement & improvement
- What I do
- Track KPIs from Jira, hold a retrospective after the sprint, find repeated steps to standardise or hand to AI.
- Output documents
- Weekly report, KPI dashboard, process improvement proposals
- Condition to move on
- Back to step 1 with the next requirement
Definition of Ready before handing over to Dev
A ticket is only pulled into a sprint when all nine items below are in place.
- Business goal: why we are doing this, in one or two sentences
- Users or roles affected
- Business rules listed clearly, with codes (BR-01, BR-02…)
- Main flow and exception flows
- Wireframe or mockup if there is a user interface
- Acceptance criteria in Given/When/Then form, testable
- Impact on existing functions and data
- Dependencies identified: APIs, data, third parties
- Dev has read it and confirmed there are no remaining questions
Seven working principles
Understand first, write later
Do not start with a document. Start with the business problem and the real users.
No vague requirements handed to Dev
A requirement without enough context, business rules, expected behaviour and acceptance criteria does not go into the sprint.
Every important requirement must be traceable
From the business need to the design, tickets, test cases and acceptance.
AI does the work, a person is accountable
AI speeds up analysis and execution. Final responsibility lies with the person using the AI.
Every AI output must be verified
Requirements, mockups, SQL, test cases, diagrams and reports all need a person to verify them before handover.
Automate repetitive work, not accountability
Reasoning, decisions and accountability stay with people.
Documents must serve delivery
A document must help Dev build the right thing, Testers test the right thing and all parties understand the same problem.
Tools by step
- Intake
- Google MeetZoomrecording and transcriptsObsidian (project knowledge vault, wikilinks)
- Analysis & design
- Figmadraw.ioMermaidSQL on the dev databaseClaude Code to read the codebase
- Handover
- JiraPlaneTrelloMarkdown
- Testing
- Test case sheetsIDE agents running in parallel (Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity)Postman
- UAT & reporting
- UAT checklistJira REST APIKPI dashboardweekly report
- AI for the team
- BA KitTester Kit (agent skills)MCP (connecting Jira, databases and documents)