2.8KB
Improvement Proposal — Real-Time Disconnect Edge Cases in Definition of Ready
Proposal ID
EVOLVE-20260603-002
Scope
upstream-candidate
Source Project
ai-development-team-agent-pack (Scrum Poker App — Epic 3, Story 5)
File To Update
./.ai/checklists/definition-of-ready.md
Current Problem
The Definition of Ready checklist has no prompt for identifying connection-state edge cases in real-time or WebSocket features. These edge cases (participant disconnects, reconnects, stale presence state) are consistently discovered mid-sprint rather than during refinement, causing scope creep and blocking stories that assumed clean connection state.
Evidence
Scrum Poker App Epic 3 (Real-Time Presence): Stories 1–4 were completed in Sprints 1–2. Story 5 — “away participants excluded from the ‘everyone has voted’ check” — was discovered mid-sprint as a gap only after the disconnect indicator was built. The original story for disconnect detection did not ask whether downstream logic (vote reveal gating) correctly handled the disconnected state. Story 5 entered the backlog as Proposed and was not scheduled, leaving a functional gap that a refinement question would have surfaced.
Proposed Change
Add a conditional item to the Definition of Ready checklist:
- [ ] **If real-time or WebSocket feature:** disconnect, reconnect, and stale-presence scenarios are identified and either in scope or explicitly deferred.
Insert after the existing - [ ] Risks are identified line.
Why This Generalizes
Any collaborative or multiplayer application with live presence (chat, voting tools, collaborative editors, dashboards) will encounter these edge cases. The question is domain-neutral: “what happens when a participant drops?” This belongs at the refinement gate so it is never accidentally scoped out.
Benefit
- Teams identify disconnect/reconnect scope during refinement, not mid-sprint.
- Blocking dependencies between real-time stories are visible before sprint planning.
- Reduces the risk of shipping presence features with silent gaps in connection-state logic.
Risk
Low. The item is conditional and explicitly scoped to real-time features. It will not add friction to stories that have no real-time component.
Rollback Plan
Remove the added checklist item from definition-of-ready.md. No other files are affected.
Validation
The change is working when:
- Real-time stories entering a sprint have an explicit note in Acceptance Criteria or Notes about disconnect/reconnect handling.
- No mid-sprint scope surprises about connection-state edge cases occur in the next real-time feature.
Product Owner Approval
Approved
Promotion Decision
Promote upstream
Applied Date
2026-06-03
Baseline Version Impact
Patch