1 min lesson
The forward stream
Explain the practical point behind "The methodology sets the cadence of the stream and says nothing about what happens inside any stage."
Step 1 of 3
The forward streamidea → production
Each stage is also a queue: work piles up waiting for design review, for a free QA environment, for a change-advisory-board slot, for a human reviewer. The methodology sets the cadence of the stream and says nothing about what happens inside any stage.
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Full explanation
The return loop
The return loopincident → postmortem → corrective change
When something breaks in Operate, it generates an incident, which generates a postmortem, which generates corrective changes:
- Config hardening.
- A missing test.
- A runbook fix.
- Alert tuning.
- A dependency bump.
Those changes re-enter the forward stream at Build. This loop is where the cheapest wins sit, so it is the first place an AI coding agent should work in a cautious org.
New value, higher uncertainty
Higher blast radiusHow much breaks if a change goes wrong; the scope of potential damage. Press Enter for the full definition. per change
Design + product judgment heavy
Where leadership's attention sits
Restorative, well-scoped work
Low blast radiusHow much breaks if a change goes wrong; the scope of potential damage. Press Enter for the full definition., high toil
Generates ITGCIT General Controls. The baseline IT controls auditors check: who can change what, how changes get approved and how systems are run. Press Enter for the full definition.-friendly evidence
Where Cursor lands first, quietly
Asked 'where would you start a Cursor pilot in a risk-averse bank?', answer with the return loop: postmortem corrective actions and flaky-test remediation. The blast radiusHow much breaks if a change goes wrong; the scope of potential damage. Press Enter for the full definition. is small, the before/after evidence is clean and you're fixing pain they already feel. Graduate forward into Build and Test as trust compounds.
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Optional practice
Test yourself on The forward stream
QWhich of the following is the strongest reason the return loop is the ideal first workload for an AI coding agent in a cautious enterprise?