VM8
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AI-native product engineering · Your project with VM8

From the first conversation to the first release.

How we assess a project, how we start, and how your team and ours work on one model until it is live.

01Step one · The conversation

Every project is assessed before VM8 commits.

  • A screen for every project

    What could this be used for, and who benefits? The strictest law of Mexico, the United States and the European Union applies. Doubt is a no.

  • A full analysis for incubation

    The idea, its impact and its market; a success prediction that declares its own uncertainty; risks, each with a mitigation plan.

  • One person decides

    Never the one who brought the opportunity. A no to incubation can still be a yes to service.

02Step two · Discovery workshop

Half a day with your team. You leave with a model, not with notes.

  • Your language, your rules

    Event Storming with your domain experts: what happens, what triggers it, where the boundaries are.

  • Captured live

    The agent writes it into your product's knowledge during the session; the VM8 lead curates.

  • Validated by you

    Your product owner confirms the model before anything is specified or built.

03Step three · Iteration zero

Knowledge first. Then code.

  • The map

    Domain, context map, initial architecture, scope and the first backlog.

  • Your product's home

    Its repository, its knowledge, its board. Everything the work will trace back to.

  • The experience, first

    A working, high-fidelity prototype you use and approve before architecture and build.

04Step four · The development farm

Sessions with a role, a boundary and one task.

Each session is an agent with a VM8 engineer, scoped to what its role needs. Several run in parallel, on one model.

DiscoveryProposes concepts from the domainSpecDrafts specs and acceptance criteriaBuildAssembles on the blocks, testsReviewTraces spec to code, checks alignmentReleaseChangelog, promotion, tagOne modelVERSIONEDPull requestsEvery change, reviewedPeople approveAgents never doReleaseIn your name
  1. 01Discovery · Proposes concepts from the domain
  2. 02Spec · Drafts specs and acceptance criteria
  3. 03Build · Assembles on the blocks, tests
  4. 04Review · Traces spec to code, checks alignment
  5. 05Release · Changelog, promotion, tag
  6. 06One model · where every session reads and writes
  7. 07Pull requests · Every change, reviewed
  8. 08People approve · Agents never do
  9. 09Release · In your name

05What we hold to

Twelve principles. The same ones we build VM8 with.

  • 01

    Product and value first

    The problem before the technology.

  • 02

    Domain first

    Model the business before code.

  • 03

    One connected model

    Knowledge is the source; documents are views.

  • 04

    AI-native, human-governed

    Agents everywhere; people decide.

  • 05

    Built to evolve

    Quality and security are a condition.

  • 06

    True serverless

    Scale to zero, near-zero cost at rest.

  • 07

    Velocity with purpose

    Fast, without losing judgment.

  • 08

    No lock-in

    Not to a vendor, not to VM8.

  • 09

    Auditable

    Every change has an author and a reason.

  • 10

    VM8 builds VM8

    We use what we sell.

  • 11

    Learn continuously

    Nothing is final; everything is dated.

  • 12

    Validated by use

    A prototype before architecture.

06Everything connected

Nothing is tracked twice. Everything points to the next thing.

IssueWhat and whySpecAcceptance criteriaCodeOn the blocksReleaseVersioned, notedKnowledgeUpdated, learned
  1. 01Issue · What and why
  2. 02Spec · Acceptance criteria
  3. 03Code · On the blocks
  4. 04Release · Versioned, noted
  5. 05Knowledge · Updated, learned

Progress is never asked for. It is read: every work item, every spec, every decision and every release, in one place your team can open in a browser.

07What you decide

Your calls, and when they come.

  • The model

    WhoYour product owner validates it
    WhenAfter the discovery workshop

  • Specs

    WhoYour product owner approves
    WhenBefore each increment is built

  • The experience

    WhoThe people it is for, by using the prototype
    WhenBefore architecture and build

  • Increments

    WhoYour validation owners, in a real environment
    WhenBefore each release

  • Releases

    WhoYour product owner
    WhenWhen the increment is validated

All of it in a browser. No Git, no command line, no cloud console unless you want them.

08The first release

What you have at the end of the first cycle.

  • A product, live

    In your name, in your own account, ready to grow.

  • Its knowledge

    Model, specs, decisions and history, readable by anyone you give access to.

  • A team that knows the method

    Yours and ours, working the same way on the next increment.

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