The issues you'll hit, and the resolution playbook
What you'll learn
Expect scope creep, exemption sprawl, a stalled burndown, resistance, and upgrade-freeze — each has a known move, and the meta-fix is to track delivery issues like ATC findings: owner, expiry, review.
- Scope creep → usage-scoped, phased plan with bounded reserved capacity.
- Exemption sprawl → mandatory expiry plus a periodic renew-or-fix review.
- Stalled/rising burndown → tighten the build-breaker gate on NEW code to stop the inflow first.
Most Clean Core programmes hit the same handful of problems, and naming them in advance turns each from a crisis into a known move. Scope creep / 'boil the ocean' — the team tries to fix everything at once and burns out — is resolved by the usage-scoped, phased plan and bounded reserved capacity. Exemption sprawl — exemptions accumulate until the baseline is meaningless — is resolved by mandatory expiry dates and a periodic renew-or-fix review. A stalled or rising burndown — new debt is added as fast as old debt is cleared — is resolved by tightening the build-breaker gate on *new* code so the inflow stops before you chase the backlog.
Two more are organisational. Team resistance ('this is a tax') is resolved by making the value visible — the burndown and the celebrated 'C2 references eliminated' metric from module B1 — and by reserving capacity so remediation isn't unpaid overtime. The 'frozen for the upgrade' stand-off, where nobody dares touch anything, is resolved by the baseline itself, which makes it safe to keep shipping features because only *new* debt is gated.
The meta-skill is to treat issues as a managed list with owners and review dates, exactly like findings. An issue without an owner and a next review is a surprise waiting to happen; an issue on the list with a named owner is just work. The same governance machinery that tracks code debt (modules 8 / B1) tracks delivery risk.
Key points
- Scope creep → usage-scoped, phased plan with bounded reserved capacity.
- Exemption sprawl → mandatory expiry plus a periodic renew-or-fix review.
- Stalled/rising burndown → tighten the build-breaker gate on NEW code to stop the inflow first.
- Team resistance → make value visible (burndown, celebrated 'C2 eliminated' metric) and reserve capacity.
- 'Frozen for the upgrade' → the baseline makes it safe to keep shipping; only new debt is gated.
- Track issues like findings: every issue gets an owner and a next review date.
Source notes: clean-core-curriculum (delivery synthesis)
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