Lines of questioning — Alpha technical

Point 8 — Iterate and improve frequently

Ask:

• Which spikes did you run, how long was each one, and which code was deleted?
• What would you have to rewrite if Beta started on Monday? What, if anything, do you intend to keep, and why is that not lock-in?
• How did a spike result change the next spike?

Evidence to request: spike notes marked disposable, a list of what was thrown away.

Answers that indicate Met: the team describes the work as throwaway spikes and can show a negative result.

Answers that indicate Not Met: the Alpha repository is the Beta codebase, or a production account already exists. Red line A1.

Point 9 — Create a secure service which protects users' privacy

Ask:

• Did any spike use real personal data? If so, where is it now?
• Which legacy data must not be copied into a new service?
• Which privacy risk is on the register, and what experiment addressed it?
• What would a DPIA in Beta have to cover that you do not yet understand?

Evidence to request: a statement on synthetic data, privacy items on the architectural risk register.

Answers that indicate Met: spikes were synthetic, and the register names a data risk the team has not closed.

Answers that indicate Not Met: a production database of real users, or a schema already treated as the processing purpose.

Point 11 — Choose the right tools and technology

Ask:

• What were the three (or fewer) technical options, and which did you reject?
• Where is the buy-versus-build rationale, including the option of a common platform?
• Which integration constraint turned out to be worse than Discovery described?
• Which decision are you refusing to take until Beta, and what is the cost of being wrong?

Evidence to request: spike comparison, buy-versus-build decision log, architectural risk register with residual risks.

Answers that indicate Met: rejected options are specific, the risk register has owners for Beta, and nothing is deployed as the production platform.

Answers that indicate Not Met: a single option was spiked because it had already been procured. Or Terraform for the production account is in the pack. Red line A1.

Passing vocabulary

When the evidence supports the points, write the findings so a reader sees all four of these ideas: throwaway, spike, buy-versus-build, and risk register. The Alpha technical eval looks for that vocabulary on a pass.