Introduce cost-accounting performance review system ("Dave discipline") across agents#190
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neztach wants to merge 12 commits intoVoltAgent:mainfrom
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Introduce cost-accounting performance review system ("Dave discipline") across agents#190neztach wants to merge 12 commits intoVoltAgent:mainfrom
neztach wants to merge 12 commits intoVoltAgent:mainfrom
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Introduce a new cross-cutting performance subagent focused on explicit cost accounting rather than generic optimization. This agent evaluates systems using defined cost buckets: - startup - memory - CPU - I/O - network - dependency - complexity - user experience - operator/maintainer cost Key behaviors: - Identifies cost drivers (drag points) including hidden, layered, and cumulative cost - Distinguishes intentional cost from avoidable cost - Applies tradeoff-aware analysis instead of blindly removing overhead - Uses an OODA-based review model (observe, orient, decide, act) - Provides directional performance estimates (no false precision) - Encourages explicit performance budgets instead of vague goals Adds trigger support for: - "Dave discipline" - "with Dave discipline" - "Dave-discipline pass" - "with DD" - "use DD" Philosophy is inspired by Dave Plummer’s emphasis on: - constraint-driven engineering discipline - cost awareness - cumulative performance degradation from layered abstractions - prioritizing responsiveness and user experience This agent complements (does not replace) the existing performance-engineer by focusing on cost attribution and tradeoff clarity rather than profiling or load testing.
…zation Introduce a companion subagent that translates performance findings into clear, human-readable impact and decision guidance. This agent is designed to work alongside cost-accounting-performance-reviewer and focuses on: - explaining why a performance issue matters - connecting cost → change → outcome → value - estimating practical return (speed, resource usage, scalability) - clarifying tradeoffs - helping engineers prioritize work Key behaviors: - Converts technical cost-bucket findings into plain-English explanations - Avoids jargon and raw implementation detail - Emphasizes user-visible and operator-visible impact - Provides recommendation strength (low / medium / high) Supports the same trigger model: - "Dave discipline" - "with Dave discipline" - "with DD" - "use DD" This closes a common gap where performance issues are identified but not clearly justified, enabling better adoption and prioritization of improvements.
…lity & Security README
Add cost-accounting-performance-reviewer and performance-roi-translator to the Quality & Security category documentation.
Updates include:
- Added both agents to the "Available Subagents" section with descriptions aligned to repository style
- Updated the "Quick Selection Guide" to include:
- cost-aware performance analysis ("Dave discipline")
- performance impact and prioritization translation
- Extended the "Performance Optimization" pattern to include:
- cost-accounting-performance-reviewer (cost analysis and tradeoff evaluation)
- performance-roi-translator (human-readable impact and prioritization)
- Added a new usage bullet under "When to Use Quality & Security Subagents":
- Analyze performance cost and tradeoffs ("Dave discipline")
These changes introduce a cost-accounting approach to performance alongside existing optimization tooling:
- cost-accounting-performance-reviewer focuses on identifying cost drivers (including hidden and cumulative cost), evaluating tradeoffs, and encouraging constraint-driven performance discipline
- performance-roi-translator converts technical findings into clear, user-visible impact and prioritization guidance
Together, they complement performance-engineer by:
- emphasizing cost attribution and tradeoff clarity
- improving communication of performance impact
- enabling better prioritization of performance work
Terminology is standardized around:
- cost (primary concept)
- cost drivers (drag points) as intuitive shorthand
All changes preserve existing formatting, tone, and structure of the README.
Add Dave discipline / with DD routing guidance to powershell-5.1-expert. Introduces explicit coordination with cost-accounting-performance-reviewer for cost-aware, constraint-driven analysis while preserving PowerShell 5.1 compatibility, RSAT safety, and enterprise logging/safety requirements.
Add Dave discipline / with DD routing guidance to powershell-7-expert. Introduces coordination with cost-accounting-performance-reviewer for cost-aware analysis of startup drag, object churn, serialization overhead, parallelism tradeoffs, and cloud/API efficiency while preserving cross-platform automation goals.
Add Dave discipline / with DD routing guidance to ad-security-reviewer. Introduces coordination with cost-accounting-performance-reviewer so AD security reviews can also surface remediation cost, repeated directory query overhead, diagnostic burden, and operational tradeoffs without weakening security posture.
Add Dave discipline / with DD routing guidance to azure-infra-engineer. Introduces coordination with cost-accounting-performance-reviewer for cost-aware analysis of Azure automation, API round trips, authentication setup, dependency load, polling patterns, and deployment tradeoffs.
Add Dave discipline / with DD routing guidance to m365-admin. Introduces coordination with cost-accounting-performance-reviewer for cost-aware analysis of Graph/API round trips, connection setup, pagination behavior, diagnostics, and cloud automation tradeoffs while preserving tenant safety and compliance needs.
Add Dave discipline / with DD routing guidance to powershell-module-architect.
This change introduces coordination with cost-accounting-performance-reviewer for cost-aware, constraint-driven analysis of PowerShell module architecture, including:
- module import and startup behavior
- dependency load and abstraction weight
- repeated initialization work
- export surface and architectural tradeoffs
Adds a new Performance Coordination section that:
- enables explicit DD invocation ("with DD", "use DD")
- encourages cost visibility without sacrificing maintainability
- preserves intentional diagnostics, validation, and developer ergonomics when justified
Also introduces implicit DD suggestion behavior when:
- module dependency count grows
- import/startup time becomes significant
- abstraction layers increase
- long-lived automation codebases are being optimized
Minor wording improvements:
- clarifies dot-sourcing impact on startup/import cost
- reinforces testability as a first-class design concern
- improves integration descriptions for PowerShell version specialists
This aligns module design with cost-awareness principles while maintaining enterprise-grade usability and clarity.
Add Dave discipline / with DD routing guidance to windows-infra-admin.
This change introduces coordination with cost-accounting-performance-reviewer for cost-aware, constraint-driven analysis of Windows infrastructure operations, including:
- script execution cost and repeated remote calls (WMI, WinRM, AD)
- event log query cost and troubleshooting overhead
- logging, diagnostics, and background activity impact
- automation patterns such as polling, retries, and scheduled execution
Adds a new Performance Coordination section that:
- enables explicit DD invocation ("with DD", "use DD")
- identifies cost drivers in troubleshooting workflows and repeated operational patterns
- preserves intentional diagnostics, logging, safety checks, and auditability when justified
- encourages lower-cost approaches that maintain reliability and clarity
Also introduces implicit DD suggestion behavior for:
- frequently executed scripts
- large-scale automation
- repetitive troubleshooting workflows
- excessive remote queries or polling patterns
This extends cost-aware performance discipline into real-world infrastructure operations without compromising safety, observability, or auditability.
Integrate Dave discipline / with DD behavior into architect-reviewer using existing structure. Enhancements include: - Extend "When invoked" to include architectural cost analysis and cost driver detection - Add coordination with cost-accounting-performance-reviewer when DD is requested - Introduce identification of hidden and cumulative cost across abstraction layers, services, and dependencies - Enhance architecture review checklist to include: - cost driver identification - abstraction and dependency cost justification - cross-service and orchestration overhead evaluation - Add architectural principle reinforcing that abstractions, service boundaries, and dependencies are cost-bearing decisions This approach embeds cost-aware, constraint-driven performance discipline directly into architectural review workflows without introducing new sections, maintaining consistency with existing file structure. Focus remains on tradeoff-aware design that preserves resilience, security, and maintainability while ensuring architectural decisions justify their cost at system scale.
Integrate Dave discipline / with DD behavior into architect-reviewer using existing structure. Enhancements include: - Extend "When invoked" to include architectural cost analysis and cost-driver detection - Add coordination with cost-accounting-performance-reviewer when DD is requested - Introduce identification of hidden and cumulative cost across abstraction layers, services, and dependencies - Enhance architecture review checklist to include: - cost driver identification - abstraction and dependency cost justification - cross-service and orchestration overhead evaluation - Add architectural principle reinforcing that abstractions, service boundaries, and dependencies are cost-bearing decisions that must justify themselves at system scale This embeds cost-aware, constraint-driven performance discipline directly into architectural review workflows without introducing new sections, maintaining consistency with existing file structure. Focus remains on tradeoff-aware design that preserves resilience, security, and maintainability while ensuring architectural decisions justify their cost at system scale.
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This PR introduces a cost-accounting approach to performance analysis across the agent ecosystem, inspired by constraint-driven engineering principles often referred to here as "Dave discipline".
The goal is not to replace existing performance tooling, but to complement it by making cost visible, tradeoffs explicit, and performance decisions easier to justify.
✨ New Agents
1. cost-accounting-performance-reviewer
A universal performance reviewer that:
2. performance-roi-translator
A companion agent that:
🔗 Cross-Agent Integration
DD ("Dave discipline") is now wired into multiple layers of the system:
Language & Automation
Infrastructure & Cloud
Developer Experience
Architecture
Each of these agents now:
🧠 Architectural Enhancement
The architect-reviewer has been extended to include:
This enables detection of:
📘 Documentation Updates
🎯 Design Philosophy
This change introduces a consistent principle across agents:
Importantly, this approach:
🚀 Outcome
This PR turns performance from:
into:
By embedding cost awareness directly into agents, it encourages better defaults, clearer tradeoffs, and more maintainable systems.
Happy to adjust wording, scope, or placement based on feedback.