Recycle method

Deep-dive

Each pod will have very specific goals each phase sprint. For the purposes of clarity in this example, we have named the three example pods “Alpha”, “First”, and “Start”.

Although their expected output will change each phase, the positions have a hierarchy and critical testing roles that must be filled each day.

Video Game software development is one of the more Agile tech industries that exist, with priorities reactively changing at a nearly monthly basis. Iteration in this project design has a specific structure outline for each role of the pods.

We have created a high-level testing roadmap attached below, designed in a way that ensures testing coverage across all functionality from the core Inscryption title; while allowing the other two teams to be available for emergent needs, allowing testing to remain structured but agile to emergent requests.

Phase

Definitions

To provide total clarity on this rotating design, to ensure we meet your entrance/exit criteria, and confirm utilization all quoted time; find next the granular breakdowns of each pod’s deliverables, rituals, and typical daily tasks.

Cross-Pod

Ceremonies

Launch Planning

Internal team members sync at Sprint launch independent from Production and Development

  • Provide a candid space for testers to offer process feedback

  • Outline plans for iteration this sprint

  • Offer documentation and training created by the previous sprint’s Implement team.

  • Previous Explore team outlines differentials between pod metrics

  • Blockers escalated by client are outlined to decide on what tasks may be blocked this sprint

Daily Standups

Discuss tasking, current blockers, and capacity changes

Morning and evening syncs will be recorded and available to client.

Monday Lead Triage

Team Manager, Leads, and Analysts sync Monday morning to ensure cross pod synergy; aligning on defect severity, SLA compliance, combinatorial testing re-calibration

Outcome Review

Stakeholders, Project Manager, Leads, and optional dev attendance sync at the end of each sprint to

  • Ensure entrance/exit criteria have been met

  • Previous sync’s requested deliverables have been reported

  • Provide cross-pod feedback on what processes worked and failed

  • Intake feedback from Production/Development on defect submission quality

  • Outline team’s feedback on current defect priorities

  • Report completed coverage

structure

Phase

primary goal

Establish and maintain baseline stability by executing planned suites that cover critical paths, compliance, and regressions.

Required

Deliverables

  • Executed suite report: traceability → requirements

  • Coverage matrix report (critical path %, feature %)

  • Scripted defect log with full repro & attachments

  • Regression/Smoke checklist for nightly/PR builds

Typical Daily

Tasking

  • Run planned suites

  • Ensure core mechanics are covered in life of project

  • Re-run focused regressions

  • File defects discovered by testing sweep

    • Record test suite’s defect delta vs current explore run

    • Escalate complex defects for Explore investigation

  • Identify gaps → create improvement candidates for Implement Phase (suite updates/automation)

Key Performance

Indicators

  • Critical path coverage

  • Smoke/regression pass rate trend sprint-over-sprint

  • Mean time to reproduce scripted defects

  • Repro detail completeness of cases

Rotation

Exit Criteria

  • Runbooks submited prior to outcome review

  • New Automation and Testing suites confirmed functional

  • Completed testing backlog escalated by Implement phase

  • Acceptance confirmed by team in Structure phase during Outcome review

Explore

Phase

primary goal

Find what scripts miss: escaped defects, VR comfort regressions, haptics/physics edge cases, UX incoherence — then convert wins into backlog items.

Required

Deliverables

  • Exploratory session notes (SBTM) + defect list

  • Comfort/UX issue log with severity + player impact

  • Hypotheses to reweight Weighted Combinatorial Testing

  • Area candidates to formalize into scripted suites.

Typical Daily

Tasking

  • Time-boxed hunts against high-weight mechanics & physics combos

  • Destructive/stress checks

  • Comfort guideline feedback reports

  • Report rich investigation on complex edge-cases escalated by teams in Structure and Implement phases

Key Performance

Indicators

  • Critical/major defects per exploratory hour

  • Reproducibility of filed exploratory defects

  • Time from discovery to ticket

  • Percent of findings converted to suites candidates

Rotation

Exit Criteria

  • End-of-Run summary with prioritized defects & insights

  • Report of top findings promoted to Implement for following sprint’s suite

  • Combination testing weight updates queued for next sprint.

Implement

Phase

primary goal

Turn learning into durable assets: new/updated suites, automation, runbooks, and sanitized artifacts that reduce future cycle time.

Required

Deliverables

  • Updated scripted suites

  • Automation merged

    • CI hooks, scheduled runs validated

  • Runbooks/onboarding docs

    • Confirm documentation up-to-date

  • Certification tickets with acceptance criteria for verification

Typical Daily

Tasking

  • Build/merge automation wire to CI

  • Generate database dashboards

  • Daily testing reports to Production

  • Convert Explore wins into stable suites for Structure

  • Maintain archive documentation; versioned suites, VR compliance checklists, onboarding documents

  • Team hardware maintenance

    • Builds up-to-date with all versions and firmware

    • Run device smokes for hardware errors

    • Ensure benched devices stay charged

Key Performance

Indicators

  • Percent of targeted test cases templated this sprint

  • Time from fix verified within SLA

  • Measured team’s administrative time

  • Documentation completeness passes peer review

Rotation

Exit Criteria

  • Complete maintenance checklists

  • All Combinatorial weights adjustments implemented

  • Intake/backlog refreshed for next loop

  • Acceptance by Structure confirmed

Launch

Ritual

Implement phase allows room for team improvements and has less structured expectations compared to Explore and Structure phases. Teams must complete a Day 0 approval before beginning on improvements this sprint.

  1. Review all ‘End of Run’ reports from previous sprint

  2. Triage of previous pod’s Implement backlog

  3. Solve defect area deltas between Structure and Explore runs for new suite planning.

  4. Report Implement Plan to PM for approval

  5. Launch