how we build · part six
The Review
The pull request as chain verification. Three confirmations — Product Owner, QA, Designer — each checking a different dimension. Code review as architecture review. The trace question that holds everything together.
Events in this phase. PR review happens as PRs become ready — not in batched ceremonies. Three confirmations are required on every story-bearing PR. The queue holds a bounded number of PRs so review doesn't accumulate as hidden work.
Three confirmations — three dimensions
This is the last human gate before meaning enters production. A PR that passes technical review but fails chain integrity is not ready to merge. Three people confirm, each checking a different dimension of the chain:
Product Owner
Does the implementation match the witnessed moment? The PO clicks through the feature and checks it against the brief's observation — not against the wireframe, against the person's situation. Does this change Gal's afternoon the way the brief said it would? Are the out-of-scope items still out? Does the story's done condition hold when you actually use it?
QA
Do all scenarios pass, and what surprised during exploration? QA has already verified on the branch (Part Four). The PR confirmation is the formal record: scenarios checked, exploratory findings documented, QA report attached. Any scenario that doesn't pass blocks the PR.
Designer
Does the implementation match the design at the agreed fidelity? The designer compares the rendered output to the Figma states — not pixel-perfect at this stage, but structurally correct. Layout, flow, state transitions, error messages, empty states. Does the prototype's click-through match the built feature? Is the design system used consistently? Any UX concern — something that feels wrong when used, even if it matches the wireframe — is raised here.
All three — not one or two. A story approved by QA and the designer but not the PO might be well-built and well-designed but solving the wrong problem. A story approved by the PO and QA but not the designer might solve the right problem in a way that confuses the user. The three confirmations are not redundant — they check orthogonal dimensions.