Delivery Cycles

How Catalyst projects move forward. One cycle = one pass through the delivery loop. Run many cycles, advance when ready.

What is a delivery cycle?

A delivery cycle is one complete pass through the four delivery phases: Brief → Build → Review → Refine. Most features take multiple cycles. Each cycle makes the work clearer, more validated, and closer to done.

1

Brief

Capture what you're building

"Is intent clear enough to build?"

2

Build

Ship working software

"Is it ready to show people?"

3

Review

Get feedback on the real thing

"Do we understand what to change?"

4

Refine

Decide what changes

"Loop again, or advance?"

How long is a cycle?

Short. Hours to days, not weeks. The goal is fast feedback, not perfect output. Each cycle validates assumptions and reduces risk.

POC

2-4 hours

Quick proof cycles. Show something real fast.

MVP

1-2 days

Feature cycles. Build, show, learn, repeat.

MMP/PROD

2-5 days

Hardening cycles. Quality matters more here.

Checkpoints within phases

Each phase has a natural checkpoint — a moment to confirm you're ready to move on. These aren't formal gates; they're just good practice to keep delivery on track.

Brief

"Is intent clear enough to build?"

  • You can explain what you're building in one sentence
  • Success criteria are written down
  • Stakeholders agree on scope for this cycle

Build

"Is it ready to show people?"

  • The core flow works end-to-end
  • It won't crash when stakeholders click around
  • You know what feedback you're looking for

Review

"Do we understand what needs to change?"

  • Feedback is captured, not just heard
  • You know which feedback to act on
  • Stakeholders feel heard

Refine

"Loop again, or advance?"

  • Brief is updated with learnings
  • Next cycle scope is clear (if looping)
  • Advance criteria are met (if advancing)

When to advance

Advancing to the next stage is a deliberate decision. Most cycles loop back to Brief. Advance only when the work is validated and meets the expectations for the current stage.

Ready to advance
  • Core functionality is validated by stakeholders
  • Quality expectations for current stage are met
  • Team agrees the work is solid enough to harden
  • Next stage requirements are understood
Not yet — keep looping
  • Major feedback hasn't been addressed
  • Core flows are still unstable
  • Stakeholders are requesting significant changes
  • Quality doesn't meet stage expectations

Advancing too early is the #1 cause of rework

Run another cycle if you're unsure. The cost of one more cycle is much lower than hardening work that needs to change.

Delivery by stage

What "good delivery" looks like changes as you advance.

POC

Proof of Concept

Focus

Speed over polish

Cycles

Many short cycles. Fail fast, learn fast.

Quality bar

Working demo, happy path only. Rough is fine.
MVP

Minimum Viable Product

Focus

Validation over features

Cycles

Longer cycles. Real users, real feedback.

Quality bar

Auth, data persistence, error handling.
MMP

Minimum Marketable Product

Focus

Polish and reliability

Cycles

Careful cycles. Design system, edge cases.

Quality bar

Performance, security, accessibility.
PROD

Production

Focus

Stability and observability

Cycles

Controlled cycles. Testing, monitoring, rollback.

Quality bar

SLAs, backups, incident response.

The key insight

Delivery isn't a straight line from idea to production. It's a loop you run many times, advancing only when the work is validated. The loop is the mechanism for building the right thing — not just building something.

Roles & CollaborationPOC Workflow