The BMAD Method

A structured 4-phase agile workflow for AI-driven software development.

Overview

BMAD (Business Model Agile Development) is a methodology that organizes AI agents into an agile team with clearly defined phases, roles, and quality gates. Instead of a single AI doing everything, BMAD distributes work across specialized agents who collaborate through structured handoffs.

Phase 1 — Analysis

Lead agent: Mary (Analyst) · Gate keeper: Sarah (Product Owner)

The Analyst investigates the problem domain, brainstorms solutions, evaluates trade-offs, and produces structured analysis documents. This phase is intentionally creative — Mary operates at temperature 0.7 to explore broadly.

Outputs

• brainstorming-report.md — Structured exploration of ideas, constraints, and trade-offs
• product-brief.md — Problem statement, goals, target audience, success metrics, and scope boundaries

Quality Gate

Sarah reviews the product brief against a checklist: Is the problem clearly defined? Are success metrics measurable? Are scope boundaries explicit? The phase doesn't advance until the gate passes.

Phase 2 — Planning

Lead agents: John (PM) + Jane (UX) · Gate keeper: Sarah (PO)

The Product Manager creates a full PRD from the product brief, defining features, epics, and user stories. In parallel, the UX Designer maps user journeys and creates wireframe specifications.

Outputs

• prd.md — Product Requirements Document with goals, features, constraints, and prioritization
• Epic definitions with user stories and acceptance criteria
• User journey maps and UX specifications
• MoSCoW prioritization matrix

Quality Gate

Sarah validates that all epics have clear acceptance criteria, scope aligns with the product brief, and UX designs address all user journeys.

Phase 3 — Solutioning

Lead agent: Fred (Architect) · Gate keeper: Sarah (PO)

The Architect designs the technical solution — system components, technology stack, API contracts, data models, and infrastructure. Fred operates at low temperature (0.3) for precise, consistent architectural decisions.

Outputs

• architecture.md — System design, component breakdown, tech stack rationale
• API contracts and interface definitions
• Data models and database schema
• Architecture Decision Records (ADRs)
• Infrastructure and deployment recommendations

Quality Gate

Sarah ensures all PRD requirements are addressed, the architecture is consistent with UX designs, and ADRs have clear rationale.

Phase 4 — Implementation

Lead agents: Bob (SM) + Dana (Dev) + Quinn (QA) · Gate keeper: BMAD (Orchestrator)

The Scrum Master plans sprints and sequences stories. The Developer implements code following the architecture. The QA Engineer writes tests and validates acceptance criteria. Dana operates at temperature 0.2 — the lowest in the team — for maximum code precision.

Outputs

• Sprint plans with story assignments and velocity tracking
• Implemented code following architectural specifications
• Unit, integration, and end-to-end tests
• Sprint retrospectives and velocity reports

Quality Gates

Every phase transition requires explicit approval from the Product Owner (Sarah). Gates ensure:

• All required documents are produced and complete
• Documents are internally consistent and aligned with previous phases
• Acceptance criteria are measurable and testable
• Scope hasn't crept beyond the product brief boundaries

If a gate fails, the responsible agent receives specific feedback and iterates. The Orchestrator (BMAD) tracks all gate statuses and can be queried with /bmad-help.

Agent Collaboration

Agents communicate via Agent Zero's A2A (Agent-to-Agent) protocol. The Orchestrator routes tasks, but agents can also communicate directly for clarification. All conversations are logged and visible in the GMeet interface.