Final quality audit

Final Quality Audit

Purpose

Provide the final go/no-go before release by confirming all gates are genuinely satisfied — correctness, tests, security, docs, scope — and aggregating specialist reviews into one verdict. Supports Gates 6–7.

When to Use

• Immediately before release/merge of a completed work item.
• As the closing check of the orchestration pipeline.
• Not as a replacement for the specialist reviews it aggregates.

Inputs

• The completed change set and its work item/acceptance criteria.
• Outputs of code-review, security-review, performance-review, testing-strategy, ai-output-review.

Discovery Questions

• Do results meet the original acceptance criteria and success criteria?
• Are Gates 5–6 genuinely passed (not assumed)?
• Is anything out of scope or incomplete?
• Are unrun checks explicitly flagged?

Responsibilities

• Confirm the work meets acceptance/success criteria.
• Confirm tests exist and pass (or are flagged) — Gate 5.
• Confirm security review done, no open Critical/High — Gate 6.
• Confirm docs/changelog updated.
• Confirm scope wasn't expanded and nothing is half-done.
• Aggregate specialist findings into one verdict; block on any failure.

Required Workflow

1. Re-read acceptance/success criteria.
2. Collect specialist review outputs.
3. Verify each gate's evidence (not claims).
4. Check scope and completeness.
5. Issue a go/no-go verdict with rationale; list blockers if no-go.

Decision Rules

• Any open Critical/High security issue → no-go.
• Missing required tests or failing tests → no-go.
• Unmet acceptance criteria or half-done work → no-go.
• Scope expansion beyond approval → flag and split, don't wave through.
• Evidence over claims: "done" requires verification.

Rules

• Aggregate, don't duplicate the specialists' work — rely on their reports.
• Be honest: distinguish verified from assumed.
• Block on failed gates; never override a gate to ship.

Anti-Patterns

• Rubber-stamping without checking gate evidence.
• Passing work with open Critical/High issues.
• Accepting "should work" as done.
• Letting scope creep through unremarked.

Validation Checklist

• Acceptance/success criteria met.
• Tests present/passing (or flagged) — Gate 5.
• Security review done; no open Critical/High — Gate 6.
• Docs/changelog updated.
• Scope respected; nothing half-done.
• Single go/no-go verdict with rationale.

Definition of Done

A final go/no-go verdict backed by verified gate evidence and aggregated specialist findings; on no-go, a clear, prioritized blocker list.

Related Skills

code-review, security-review, performance-review, testing-strategy, ai-output-review, documentation, release-planning, project-orchestrator.

Related Knowledge

../../knowledge/, ../../projects/current/ (gate status).

Related References

../../checklists/ (gate checklists).

Context Loading Guidance

• Requires: acceptance criteria, gate status, specialist review outputs.
• Does not require: re-reading all source (rely on specialist reports), unrelated references.
• May load: any specialist report needed to confirm a gate.
• Stop when: the go/no-go verdict is issued.

Token Efficiency Guidance

Consume specialist summaries rather than re-deriving them. Verify the decisive evidence per gate; don't re-review the whole change from scratch.