Anthropic has just published its codified version of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). What are the key takeaways?

The SDLC consists of six stages:

1. Plan
2. Design
3. Build
4. Test
5. Deploy
6. Maintain

With Claude integrated into each stage and human validation at each transition.

The new artifact chain:

→ intent.md: objective, rationale, and constraints – formulated by the initiator.
→ spec.md: requirements, including constraints to be met for each specification.
→ plan.md: files to be changed, execution order, and validation tests.

Version-controlled, auditable, and readable by your agents.

No implementation is performed without a validated plan. The agent verifies its own work. Each pull request undergoes a compliance check. And each stage is validated by a human.

The "Maintain" phase becomes a true feedback loop by reintegrating production incidents into the pipeline as new intent.md files.

Now, this cycle proposed by Anthropic does not cover your entire Product Management Life Cycle (PMLC). And when the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) becomes codified and accessible to all, your PMLC becomes your competitive advantage.

Here's the breakdown:

❌ Qualify: Selection of initiatives to execute
❌ Frame: Breaking down of initiatives into customer value and business impact.
✅ Define: Definition of the solution and its success metrics (Plan + Design)
✅ Deliver: Development of the solution (Build + Test + Deploy)
❌ Enable: Training of teams and creation of Marketing and Sales pitches
❌ Learn: Evaluation of the business and product impact
✅ Learn: Monitoring of scope extensions (Maintain)

When executing an initiative becomes standard, the selection of your initiatives to execute becomes crucial. Understanding the problem, proving value, communicating that value, and learning from the experience become the true differentiators.

This is the work I do with my clients and their teams: codifying the Product lifecycle into their AI with Product Management best practices — from qualifying their weak signals to measuring the impact of their initiatives, and communicating the value delivered along the way.

If this resonates, let's talk!