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The FCC Cycle in Depth

This tutorial provides a detailed walkthrough of the Find-Create-Critique cycle, showing which personas participate in each phase, how artifacts flow between them, and how feedback edges create iterative quality improvement.

Phase Overview

The FCC cycle has three phases, each with a distinct purpose:

Phase Purpose Core Question
Find Research, discover, inventory "What do we know?"
Create Design, build, document "What do we produce?"
Critique Validate, review, govern "Does it meet standards?"

These phases are not strictly sequential. Feedback edges from Critique flow back to both Find and Create, creating iterative refinement loops.

The Find Phase

The Find phase builds the knowledge foundation. No content is created here -- the goal is comprehensive, organized, traceable research.

Find Phase Personas

Persona Role Key Output
RC (Research Crafter) Senior analyst, gathers and synthesizes information Capability matrix, research inventory, traceability matrix
CIA (Catalog Indexer Architect) Indexes documentation assets into searchable catalogs Index schemas, API connectors, coverage reports
STE (Semantic Taxonomy Engineer) Establishes consistent terminology via triplet logic Taxonomy schemas, ontology graphs, consistency reports
RIC (Research Inventory Crafter) Automates capability matrix creation Automated capability matrices, structured inventories

Find Phase Data Flow

graph TD
    STE[STE: Semantic Taxonomy Engineer] -->|terminology_standards| RC[RC: Research Crafter]
    CIA[CIA: Catalog Indexer Architect] -->|indexed_assets| RC
    RIC[RIC: Research Inventory Crafter] -->|capability_data| CIA
    RIC -->|structured_data| BC[BC: Blueprint Crafter]
    CIA -->|catalog_data| BC
    STE -->|classification_schemas| DGS[DGS: Data Governance Specialist]
    RC -->|research_inventory| BC
    RC -->|requirements| TS[TS: Traceability Specialist]

Key principle: Research outputs are structured and machine-parseable. The Research Crafter produces capability matrices in tabular format with capability IDs, not prose narratives. This enables downstream personas to consume research programmatically.

Quality Gates in Find Phase

Gate Persona Checks
QG-RC-001 RC Capability matrix, annotated references, traceability matrix, capability tags
QG-CIA-001 CIA Index schema defined, API connectors tested, coverage report generated
QG-STE-001 STE Taxonomy schema complete, triplet logic validated, consistency report
QG-RIC-001 RIC Capability matrices populated, machine-parseable format, source attribution

The Create Phase

The Create phase transforms research into polished documentation artifacts. Each persona specializes in a specific artifact type.

Create Phase Personas

Persona Role Key Output
BC (Blueprint Crafter) Translates research into design documents and specifications Design documents, API specs, data models, workflow definitions
RB (Runbook Crafter) Produces operational procedures and automation scripts Runbooks, automation scripts, troubleshooting guides
UG (User Guide Crafter) Creates accessible user documentation User guides, onboarding materials, quick references
UMC (UI Mockup Crafter) Generates visual prototypes UI mockups, design specifications, accessibility reports
PTE (Privacy Taxonomy Engineer) Classifies data by sensitivity level Classification taxonomies, privacy policy docs
EC (Executive Communicator) Translates technical content for leadership Executive summaries, decision briefs, status dashboards
SCP (Stakeholder Content Publisher) Manages multi-channel distribution Published content, distribution reports

Create Phase Data Flow

graph TD
    BC[BC: Blueprint Crafter] -->|blueprints_specs| DE[DE: Documentation Evangelist]
    BC -->|specs_for_mockup| UMC[UMC: UI Mockup Crafter]
    BC -->|blueprints_validation| BV[BV: Blueprint Validator]
    BC -->|updated_specs| RB[RB: Runbook Crafter]
    BC -->|updated_specs| UG[UG: User Guide Crafter]
    UMC -->|visual_assets| UG
    UMC -->|mockup_review| BV
    DGS[DGS: Data Governance Specialist] -->|governance_context| BC
    DGS -->|integration_data| PTE[PTE: Privacy Taxonomy Engineer]

Key principle: The Blueprint Crafter is the central hub of the Create phase. It receives research from Find-phase personas, governance context from DGS, and feedback from Critique-phase personas. Its outputs fan out to validators, mockup creators, runbook writers, and guide creators.

Quality Gates in Create Phase

Gate Persona Checks
QG-BC-001 BC Architecture diagrams, API specs, data models, workflow definitions
QG-RB-001 RB Step-by-step procedures, automation scripts, troubleshooting guide
QG-UG-001 UG Quick-start guide, detailed steps, troubleshooting section
QG-UMC-001 UMC Mockups annotated, accessibility verified, brand compliance, responsive layouts
QG-PTE-001 PTE Data types classified, privacy regulations mapped, handling guidelines
QG-EC-001 EC Executive summary complete, insights extracted, audience-appropriate tone

The Critique Phase

The Critique phase validates all artifacts against quality standards, governance frameworks, and factual accuracy requirements.

Critique Phase Personas

Persona Role Key Output
DE (Documentation Evangelist) Enforces documentation standards and style guides Polished docs, style guides, review reports
BV (Blueprint Validator) Validates blueprint completeness against quality gates Validation reports, quality scores, remediation guides
AMS (Anti-fact Mitigation Specialist) Fact-checks AI-generated content with confidence scoring Validated content, confidence reports, audit trails
GCA (Governance Compliance Auditor) Audits artifacts against governance frameworks Audit reports, remediation guides, compliance dashboards

Critique Phase Data Flow

graph TD
    BV[BV: Blueprint Validator] -->|quality_issues| DE[DE: Documentation Evangelist]
    BV -->|compliance_results| GCA[GCA: Governance Compliance Auditor]
    PTE[PTE: Privacy Taxonomy Engineer] -->|privacy_compliance| GCA
    PTE -->|classification_context| AMS[AMS: Anti-fact Mitigation Specialist]
    AMS -->|validation_results| GCA
    AMS -.->|quality_feedback| BC[BC: Blueprint Crafter]
    DE -.->|standards_edits| BC
    DE -->|publish_handoff| RB[RB: Runbook Crafter]
    DE -->|publish_handoff| UG[UG: User Guide Crafter]
    GCA -->|governance_status| CO[CO: Collaboration Orchestrator]

Key principle: The Critique phase is not just review -- it is governance enforcement. Quality gates have defined thresholds, and artifacts that fail must be remediated before publication.

Feedback Edges

Feedback edges are what make FCC iterative rather than linear. There are two types of feedback:

Critique-to-Create Feedback

When critique personas find issues, they send feedback to create-phase personas:

From To Label What Flows
DE BC standards_edits Style guide violations, standards gaps
AMS BC quality_feedback Factual accuracy issues, confidence failures
BV (via DE) BC (indirect) Quality gate failures, remediation recommendations

Create-to-Find Feedback

When create-phase personas discover knowledge gaps, they send feedback to find-phase personas:

From To Label What Flows
RB RC operational_findings Gaps discovered during runbook creation
RB BC operational_feedback Specification issues found during procedure writing
UG RC user_feedback User pain points and documentation gaps
UG BC usability_feedback Usability issues with specifications
TS BC trace_updates Traceability gaps and impact analysis

Loop Termination

Feedback loops could theoretically run indefinitely. FCC prevents this through:

  1. max_steps: The simulation engine enforces a maximum number of processing steps (default: 200)
  2. max_history: Messages stop propagating when their history exceeds a threshold (default: 16 annotations)
  3. Quality gate convergence: Once all quality gates pass, no further feedback is generated

Cross-Phase Personas

Some personas operate across all FCC phases:

Persona Phase Role
TS (Traceability Specialist) All Maintains bidirectional traceability across all artifacts
DGS (Data Governance Specialist) All Ensures data governance compliance throughout
CO (Collaboration Orchestrator) All Manages handoffs and dependencies between personas

These personas do not belong to a single phase -- they monitor and coordinate across the entire cycle.

Putting It All Together

Here is the complete base FCC cycle with all edge types:

graph TD
    subgraph Find
        RC[RC: Research Crafter]
    end
    subgraph Create
        BC[BC: Blueprint Crafter]
        RB[RB: Runbook Crafter]
        UG[UG: User Guide Crafter]
    end
    subgraph Critique
        DE[DE: Documentation Evangelist]
    end

    RC -->|research_inventory| BC
    BC -->|blueprints_specs| DE
    DE -->|publish_handoff| RB
    DE -->|publish_handoff| UG
    BC -->|updated_specs| RB
    BC -->|updated_specs| UG

    DE -.->|standards_edits| BC
    RB -.->|operational_feedback| BC
    RB -.->|operational_findings| RC
    UG -.->|usability_feedback| BC
    UG -.->|user_feedback| RC

Solid lines are handoff edges (forward flow). Dashed lines are feedback edges (iterative refinement).

Next Steps