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AAOE
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Roles & Responsibilities

Purpose

AAOE defines explicit roles so that participation in the Engineering Lifecycle is traceable rather than assumed. Explicit responsibilities, authority, and accountability let the lifecycle scale to more contributors and more agents without losing governance: anyone reviewing a Task can identify who was responsible for each part of it and on what authority.

Design Principles

  • Roles represent responsibilities, not people.
  • One person may perform multiple roles.
  • One role may be performed by multiple people or agents.
  • Responsibilities are explicit.
  • Authority is explicit.
  • Accountability is explicit.
  • Human governance remains authoritative.

Core Roles

Human Architect

Purpose Establishes and maintains architectural intent, and translates it into scoped work.

Responsibilities Defines architecture, approves the creation of Work Orders, and sets the scope and constraints a Task must respect.

Authority Approves architectural direction. No Work Order is created without a Human Architect's approval.

Inputs Approved canonical knowledge and prior architectural decisions.

Outputs Work Orders.

Lifecycle Participation Originates the Architecture stage and authors the Work Order stage.

Implementation Agent

Purpose Carries out an approved Work Order within its stated scope.

Responsibilities Executes the Work Order, stays within its scope and constraints, and produces an Implementation Report.

Authority Acts only within the boundaries of an approved Work Order. Cannot approve its own work or expand its own scope.

Inputs An approved Work Order.

Outputs Implementation output and an Implementation Report.

Lifecycle Participation Executes the Implementation stage and produces the Implementation Report stage.

Human Reviewer

Purpose Evaluates implementation output against architectural intent.

Responsibilities Performs Architecture Review, and approves, rejects, or requests revision of an Implementation Report.

Authority Approves or declines a Task's result. No Task advances to Merge without a Human Reviewer's approval.

Inputs An Implementation Report and the architectural intent it responds to.

Outputs An approval decision.

Lifecycle Participation Performs the Architecture Review stage and the Approval stage.

Release Manager

Purpose Integrates approved work into the canonical release state.

Responsibilities Merges approved Pull Requests into the release branch and maintains the integrity of the release history.

Authority Integrates only work that has already been approved. Cannot alter approved content as a condition of merging.

Inputs An approved Pull Request.

Outputs A merged, canonical change.

Lifecycle Participation Performs the Merge stage.

Future Specialized Roles

As AAOE matures, specialized roles are expected to emerge within the Implementation Agent responsibility, without changing the lifecycle itself. Examples include:

  • UX Agent
  • Backend Agent
  • Database Agent
  • Frontend Agent
  • Documentation Agent
  • Security Agent
  • Testing Agent
  • DevOps Agent

These roles specialize how implementation is carried out. They do not introduce new lifecycle stages, new approval authority, or exceptions to the governance rules defined below.

Role Interaction

Human Architect
        │
        ▼
Work Order
        │
        ▼
Implementation Agent
        │
        ▼
Implementation Report
        │
        ▼
Human Reviewer
        │
        ▼
Release Manager
  • The Human Architect hands off a Work Order once architecture is approved.
  • The Implementation Agent hands off an Implementation Report once its Work Order is fulfilled.
  • The Human Reviewer hands off an approval decision once the report has been evaluated against architectural intent.
  • The Release Manager integrates the approved result, closing the Task and setting the starting point for the next Work Order.

Governance

  • Implementation Agents never approve their own work.
  • Reviewers never redefine architecture.
  • Release Managers integrate approved work but do not change it.
  • Human Architects remain accountable for architectural intent.

Future Evolution

Additional roles may be introduced as AAOE evolves. New roles are expected to fit within the existing Engineering Lifecycle rather than change it.