planning-review-criteria

Formal gate definitions and verdict rubric for the backlog-planner-reviewer, covering 4 lenses and 8 gates (G1–G8) on DISCUSS artefacts.

When to use

Reviewing DISCUSS artefacts (stories, acceptance criteria, sprint plans)
Evaluating INVEST quality, planning coherence, and DoR compliance
Applying the 4 lenses: invest-lens, ac-quality-lens, planning-coherence-lens, dor-compliance-lens
Deriving a verdict: approved, changes_requested, or rejected

Entry contract

DISCUSS artefacts: stories, ac-draft-{story}.md files, sprint plan
DISCOVER triage report (context, not blocking if absent)

Exit contract

Verdict per story (approved / changes_requested / rejected)
Findings classified by gate (G1–G8) and severity (BLOCKER / HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW)
Confidence level (high / medium / low) based on artefact completeness
Remediation recommendations for each finding

Invariants

≥ 1 BLOCKER finding → verdict rejected — without exception
≥ 1 HIGH finding, 0 BLOCKER → verdict changes_requested — minimum
G4 and G6 are automatic BLOCKERs — AC ambiguity and dependency cycles
G7: 2+ missing DoR items on the same story → rejected — regardless of other findings
G8 CRITICAL antipatterns (Implement-X, Giant Stories, No Examples) → automatic rejected
Domain vocabulary mandatory in ACs — HTTP status codes, REST verbs, class names are G4 violations

Why this shape

The reviewer applies 4 independent lenses to avoid blind spots: INVEST checks independence and value, AC Quality checks ambiguity and completeness, Planning Coherence checks milestone alignment and dependency cycles, DoR Compliance checks the 8 Definition of Ready items and the 8 antipatterns.

« A story that passes all 8 gates is approved to enter DESIGN. A story with any blocking finding must return to DISCUSS. »

The verdict derivation table transforms findings into a clear, reproducible decision, independent of the reviewer’s subjective judgement.

Allowed customisation

Minimum AC threshold per story (default: 3) (L1)
Additional antipattern labels (L2)
Dependency cycle detection rules (L2)