Step 4: Final Validation

STEP GOAL:

To validate complete coverage of all requirements and ensure stories are ready for development.

MANDATORY EXECUTION RULES (READ FIRST):

Universal Rules:

• 🛑 NEVER generate content without user input
• 📖 CRITICAL: Read the complete step file before taking any action
• 🔄 CRITICAL: Process validation sequentially without skipping
• 📋 YOU ARE A FACILITATOR, not a content generator
• ✅ YOU MUST ALWAYS SPEAK OUTPUT In your Agent communication style with the config {communication_language}

Role Reinforcement:

• ✅ You are a product strategist and technical specifications writer
• ✅ If you already have been given communication or persona patterns, continue to use those while playing this new role
• ✅ We engage in collaborative dialogue, not command-response
• ✅ You bring validation expertise and quality assurance
• ✅ User brings their implementation priorities and final review

Step-Specific Rules:

• 🎯 Focus ONLY on validating complete requirements coverage
• 🚫 FORBIDDEN to skip any validation checks
• 💬 Validate FR coverage, story completeness, and dependencies
• 🚪 ENSURE all stories are ready for development

EXECUTION PROTOCOLS:

• 🎯 Validate every requirement has story coverage
• 💾 Check story dependencies and flow
• 📖 Verify architecture compliance
• 🚫 FORBIDDEN to approve incomplete coverage

CONTEXT BOUNDARIES:

• Available context: Complete epic and story breakdown from previous steps
• Focus: Final validation of requirements coverage and story readiness
• Limits: Validation only, no new content creation
• Dependencies: Completed story generation from Step 3

VALIDATION PROCESS:

1. FR Coverage Validation

Review the complete epic and story breakdown to ensure EVERY FR is covered:

CRITICAL CHECK:

• Go through each FR from the Requirements Inventory
• Verify it appears in at least one story
• Check that acceptance criteria fully address the FR
• No FRs should be left uncovered

2. Architecture Implementation Validation

Check for Starter Template Setup:

• Does Architecture document specify a starter template?
• If YES: Epic 1 Story 1 must be "Set up initial project from starter template"
• This includes cloning, installing dependencies, initial configuration

Database/Entity Creation Validation:

• Are database tables/entities created ONLY when needed by stories?
• ❌ WRONG: Epic 1 creates all tables upfront
• ✅ RIGHT: Tables created as part of the first story that needs them
• Each story should create/modify ONLY what it needs

3. Story Quality Validation

Each story must:

• Be completable by a single dev agent
• Have clear acceptance criteria
• Reference specific FRs it implements
• Include necessary technical details
• Not have forward dependencies (can only depend on PREVIOUS stories)
• Be implementable without waiting for future stories

4. Epic Structure Validation

Check that:

• Epics deliver user value, not technical milestones
• Dependencies flow naturally
• Foundation stories only setup what's needed
• No big upfront technical work
• File Churn Check: Do multiple epics repeatedly modify the same core files?
  • Assess whether the overlap pattern suggests unnecessary churn or is incidental
  • If overlap is significant: Validate that splitting provides genuine value (risk mitigation, feedback loops, context size limits)
  • If no justification for the split: Recommend consolidation into fewer epics
  • ❌ WRONG: Multiple epics each modify the same core files with no feedback loop between them
  • ✅ RIGHT: Epics target distinct files/components, OR consolidation was explicitly considered and rejected with rationale

5. Dependency Validation (CRITICAL)

Epic Independence Check:

• Does each epic deliver COMPLETE functionality for its domain?
• Can Epic 2 function without Epic 3 being implemented?
• Can Epic 3 function standalone using Epic 1 & 2 outputs?
• ❌ WRONG: Epic 2 requires Epic 3 features to work
• ✅ RIGHT: Each epic is independently valuable

Within-Epic Story Dependency Check: For each epic, review stories in order:

• Can Story N.1 be completed without Stories N.2, N.3, etc.?
• Can Story N.2 be completed using only Story N.1 output?
• Can Story N.3 be completed using only Stories N.1 & N.2 outputs?
• ❌ WRONG: "This story depends on a future story"
• ❌ WRONG: Story references features not yet implemented
• ✅ RIGHT: Each story builds only on previous stories

6. Complete and Save

If all validations pass:

• Update any remaining placeholders in the document
• Ensure proper formatting
• Save the final epics.md

Present Final Menu: All validations complete! [C] Complete Workflow

HALT — wait for user input before proceeding.

When C is selected, the workflow is complete and the epics.md is ready for development.

Epics and Stories complete. Invoke the bmad-help skill.

Upon Completion of task output: offer to answer any questions about the Epics and Stories.

On Complete

Run: python3 {project-root}/_bmad/scripts/resolve_customization.py --skill {skill-root} --key workflow.on_complete

If the resolved workflow.on_complete is non-empty, follow it as the final terminal instruction before exiting.