dharma-eng-review

Run an engineering review that maps the minimal viable architecture, interfaces, data flow, and trust boundaries before writing code. The output includes an architecture map, failure modes, a test plan, and a minimal-diff recommendation.

A design review should include an architecture map, data flow description, failure mode analysis, and a concrete test plan. It should also call out over-engineering and under-engineering and name what should be deferred.

Run it after product direction is set and before implementation or major refactoring begins. Implementation should not start until the review is complete, and afterward the work hands off to a preflight review.

Prefer explicit designs over clever ones and choose the fewest moving parts that solve the problem. A structured review flags unnecessary abstractions and recommends the minimal diff needed to reach the goal.

A design review only covers planned architecture and cannot catch runtime defects or integration issues that appear during implementation. It must be followed by testing and a preflight review after the code is written.