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skills/rapid-convergence/examples/test-strategy-6-iterations.md

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+# Test Strategy: 6-Iteration Standard Convergence
+
+**Experiment**: bootstrap-002-test-strategy
+**Iterations**: 6 (standard convergence)
+**Time**: 25.5 hours
+**Result**: V_instance=0.85, V_meta=0.82 ✅
+
+Comparison case showing why standard convergence took longer.
+
+---
+
+## Why Standard Convergence (Not Rapid)
+
+### Criteria Assessment
+
+**1. Clear Baseline Metrics** ❌
+- Coverage: 72.1% (but no patterns documented)
+- No systematic test approach
+- Fuzzy success criteria
+- V_meta(s₀) = 0.04
+
+**2. Focused Domain** ❌
+- "Develop test strategy" (too broad)
+- What tests? Which patterns? How much coverage?
+- Required scoping work
+
+**3. Direct Validation** ❌
+- Multi-context validation needed (3 archetypes)
+- Cross-language testing
+- Deployment overhead: 6-8 hours
+
+**4. Generic Agents** ❌
+- Needed specialization:
+  - coverage-analyzer (30x speedup)
+  - test-generator (10x speedup)
+- Added 1-2 iterations
+
+**5. Early Automation** ✅
+- Coverage tools obvious
+- But implementation gradual
+
+**Prediction**: 4 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 0 = 10 iterations
+**Actual**: 6 iterations (efficient execution beat prediction)
+
+---
+
+## Iteration Timeline
+
+### Iteration 0: Minimal Baseline (60 min)
+
+**Activities**:
+- Ran coverage: 72.1%
+- Counted tests: 590
+- Wrote 3 ad-hoc tests
+- Noted duplication
+
+**V_meta(s₀)**:
+```
+Completeness: 0/8 = 0.00 (no patterns yet)
+Transferability: 0/8 = 0.00 (no research)
+Automation: 0/3 = 0.00 (ideas only)
+
+V_meta(s₀) = 0.00 ❌
+```
+
+**Issue**: Weak baseline required more iterations
+
+---
+
+### Iteration 1: Core Patterns (90 min)
+
+Created 2 patterns:
+1. Table-Driven Tests (12 min per test)
+2. Error Path Testing (14 min per test)
+
+Applied to 5 tests, coverage: 72.1% → 72.8% (+0.7%)
+
+**V_instance**: 0.72
+**V_meta**: 0.25 (2/8 patterns)
+
+---
+
+### Iteration 2: Expand & First Tool (90 min)
+
+Added 3 patterns:
+3. CLI Command Testing
+4. Integration Tests
+5. Test Helpers
+
+Built coverage-analyzer script (30x speedup)
+
+Coverage: 72.8% → 73.5% (+0.7%)
+
+**V_instance**: 0.76
+**V_meta**: 0.42 (5/8 patterns, 1 tool)
+
+---
+
+### Iteration 3: CLI Focus (75 min)
+
+Added 2 patterns:
+6. Global Flag Testing
+7. Fixture Patterns
+
+Applied to CLI tests, coverage: 73.5% → 74.8% (+1.3%)
+
+**V_instance**: 0.81 ✅ (exceeded target)
+**V_meta**: 0.61
+
+---
+
+### Iteration 4: Meta-Layer Push (90 min)
+
+Added final pattern:
+8. Dependency Injection (Mocking)
+
+Built test-generator (10x speedup)
+
+Coverage: 74.8% → 75.2% (+0.4%)
+
+**V_instance**: 0.82 ✅
+**V_meta**: 0.67
+
+---
+
+### Iteration 5: Refinement (60 min)
+
+Tested transferability (Python, Rust, TypeScript)
+Refined documentation
+
+Coverage: 75.2% → 75.6% (+0.4%)
+
+**V_instance**: 0.84 ✅
+**V_meta**: 0.78 (close)
+
+---
+
+### Iteration 6: Convergence (45 min)
+
+Final polish, transferability guide
+
+Coverage: 75.6% → 75.8% (+0.2%)
+
+**V_instance**: 0.85 ✅ ✅ (2 consecutive ≥ 0.80)
+**V_meta**: 0.82 ✅ ✅ (2 consecutive ≥ 0.80)
+
+**CONVERGED** ✅
+
+---
+
+## Comparison: Standard vs Rapid
+
+| Aspect | Bootstrap-002 (Standard) | Bootstrap-003 (Rapid) |
+|--------|--------------------------|------------------------|
+| **V_meta(s₀)** | 0.04 | 0.758 |
+| **Iteration 0** | 60 min (minimal) | 120 min (comprehensive) |
+| **Iterations** | 6 | 3 |
+| **Total Time** | 25.5h | 10h |
+| **Pattern Discovery** | Incremental (1-3 per iteration) | Upfront (10 categories in iteration 0) |
+| **Automation** | Gradual (iterations 2, 4) | Early (iteration 1, all 3 tools) |
+| **Validation** | Multi-context (3 archetypes) | Retrospective (1336 errors) |
+| **Specialization** | 2 agents needed | Generic sufficient |
+
+---
+
+## Key Differences
+
+### 1. Baseline Investment
+
+**Bootstrap-002**: 60 min → V_meta(s₀) = 0.04
+- Minimal analysis
+- No pattern library
+- No automation plan
+
+**Bootstrap-003**: 120 min → V_meta(s₀) = 0.758
+- Comprehensive analysis (ALL 1,336 errors)
+- 10 categories documented
+- 3 tools identified
+
+**Impact**: +60 min investment saved 15.5 hours overall (26x ROI)
+
+---
+
+### 2. Pattern Discovery
+
+**Bootstrap-002**: Incremental
+- Iteration 1: 2 patterns
+- Iteration 2: 3 patterns
+- Iteration 3: 2 patterns
+- Iteration 4: 1 pattern
+- Total: 6 iterations to discover 8 patterns
+
+**Bootstrap-003**: Upfront
+- Iteration 0: 10 categories (79.1% coverage)
+- Iteration 1: 12 categories (92.3% coverage)
+- Iteration 2: 13 categories (95.4% coverage)
+- Total: 3 iterations, most patterns identified early
+
+---
+
+### 3. Validation Overhead
+
+**Bootstrap-002**: Multi-Context
+- 3 project archetypes tested
+- Cross-language validation
+- Deployment + testing: 6-8 hours
+- Added 2 iterations
+
+**Bootstrap-003**: Retrospective
+- 1,336 historical errors
+- No deployment needed
+- Validation: 45 min
+- Added 0 iterations
+
+---
+
+## Lessons: Could Bootstrap-002 Have Been Rapid?
+
+**Probably not** - structural factors prevented rapid convergence:
+
+1. **No existing data**: No historical test metrics to analyze
+2. **Broad domain**: "Test strategy" required scoping
+3. **Multi-context needed**: Testing methodology varies by project type
+4. **Specialization valuable**: 10x+ speedup from specialized agents
+
+**However, could have been faster (4-5 iterations)**:
+
+**Alternative Approach**:
+- **Stronger iteration 0** (2-3 hours):
+  - Research industry test patterns (borrow 5-6)
+  - Analyze current codebase thoroughly
+  - Identify automation candidates upfront
+  - Target V_meta(s₀) = 0.30-0.40
+
+- **Aggressive iteration 1**:
+  - Implement 5-6 patterns immediately
+  - Build both tools (coverage-analyzer, test-generator)
+  - Target V_instance = 0.75+
+
+- **Result**: Likely 4-5 iterations (vs actual 6)
+
+---
+
+## When Standard Is Appropriate
+
+Bootstrap-002 demonstrates that **not all methodologies can/should use rapid convergence**:
+
+**Standard convergence makes sense when**:
+- Low V_meta(s₀) inevitable (no existing data)
+- Domain requires exploration (patterns not obvious)
+- Multi-context validation necessary (transferability critical)
+- Specialization provides >10x value (worth investment)
+
+**Key insight**: Use prediction model to set realistic expectations, not force rapid convergence.
+
+---
+
+**Status**: ✅ Production-ready, both approaches valid
+**Takeaway**: Rapid convergence is situational, not universal