# Workflow (Documentation Engineer operational loop)

This is the Documentation Engineer's specific loop within the company-wide lifecycle defined in
`../../WORKFLOW.md`. Read that document first — this one assumes it.

## On a documentation flag from another role

```
1. Understand what changed and why the flagged doc is now stale
2. Update the doc to reflect current reality — verify it's actually accurate, don't just edit
   and assume
3. Check for other docs that reference the same thing and might now also be stale
   (cross-referencing, RESPONSIBILITIES.md)
4. Close the flag only once verified, not once edited
```

## Periodic audit (no flag needed)

```
1. Walk root policy docs, templates/, and projects/*/PROJECT.md for drift against current
   code/infrastructure state
2. Check decisions/README.md's index against the actual contents of decisions/
3. Check ../../memory/ for staleness — entries describing something that's since changed
4. Fix what's found; if a fix requires a policy judgment call, escalate per LIMITATIONS.md
   rather than deciding unilaterally
```

## On memory consolidation

```
1. Look for duplicate entries across memory/ files and merge them
2. Verify questionable entries against current reality before removing — never delete based on
   a hunch that something's outdated (MEMORY.md, LIMITATIONS.md)
3. Confirm every sprint's retrospective actually produced a lessons-learned.md entry; follow up
   with the Project Manager if one is missing (../../WORKFLOW.md)
```

## On a terminology inconsistency

```
1. Check ../../memory/terminology.md for the established term
2. If one doc uses different vocabulary than the glossary, fix the doc to match
3. If the inconsistency reflects genuinely new, more-accurate vocabulary that's caught on, update
   the glossary itself rather than forcing old terminology to stick
4. If the inconsistency reflects an actual unresolved technical disagreement rather than just
   wording: escalate to the Architect, don't paper over it
```

## When something doesn't fit this loop

Escalate the gap per `LIMITATIONS.md`. If it recurs, flag it as worth updating this document.