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How a Wise Developer Works on a New Project
Brainstorm, discuss, prototype, diagram, propose, ADR, MR/PR, GitOps — plus Review Bots that auto-comment so humans review risk
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How a wise developer starts a new project — brainstorm, discuss, prototype, diagram, propose, record ADRs, open MRs/PRs, and land changes with GitOps — while Review Bots auto-comment on pull requests. Full playbook in the long article.
The wise path (in order)
- Brainstorm — goals, constraints, non-goals, failure modes.
- Discuss — whiteboard / short sync with workmates before code hardens.
- Prototype — spike the unknown; throw away or promote deliberately.
- Diagrams — context, sequence, deployment — enough to argue about.
- Proposal — problem, options, recommendation, rollback.
- ADR — durable “why we chose X over Y.”
- MR / PR — small diffs, checklist, linked ADR/ticket.
- GitOps — desired state in git; promote by merge, roll back by revert.
Review Bots: comments that write themselves
Wire a Review Bot (Bugbot, CodeRabbit, custom Claude/GitHub Action, or your AI code review pipeline) so every PR gets automatic inline comments on:
- Security and secrets smells
- Missing tests / flaky patterns
- API contract and migration risks
- Style and lint that escaped pre-commit
Humans then focus on architecture fit, product intent, and operational blast radius. That is how you streamline developer life without lowering the production bar.
Who sets it up — and why Claude Architect Certification
An FDE (Forward Deployed Engineer) is well placed to install the templates: ADR folder, PR checklist, Review Bot, branch protection, and GitOps apps. Pair that delivery skill with Claude Architect Certification — worth pursuing if you want a credential that proves you can design agentic/AI-assisted systems, review AI-generated code critically, and coach teams on production-grade workflows.
Production-grade quality bar
| Gate | Pass criteria |
|---|---|
| Pre-commit | Format, lint, secrets scan |
| CI | Unit + contract tests green |
| Review Bot | No unresolved high-severity findings |
| Human review | Design + risk signed off |
| GitOps | Env promotion via merge; revert tested |
Read the long article for templates, Review Bot setup, FDE rollout plan, and a checklist you can paste into your repo. Published by TenthMatrix.
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