Tutor notes. For the person running the sessions.
Session 6: tutor notes
Objective: stage 1 runs on their physical phone in this session, verified by /ios-qa, and they leave with the build rhythm installed (roadmap → build → device QA → evidence → commit), because the rest of the iOS roadmap happens solo, between sessions. This is the steepest session of the course; protect the win. It's also Session 6: time has passed since the planning sessions, budget the opening minutes for re-entry, not just homework review.
Timings (2h)
| Time | Segment |
|---|---|
| 0:00 | Homework check: plan re-read? Xcode/phone ready? |
| 0:10 | /freeze + /guard, change-control framing |
| 0:25 | /ios-sync + first build to device (the risk block, see below) |
| 0:50 | Build stage 1 + /ios-qa rhythm |
| 1:35 | Planted or real breakage → /investigate + one recovery rung |
| 1:55 | Commit, /context-save, set the expectations for the gap |
The risk block: first deploy to a physical device
This is the session's most likely 30-minute swamp. De-risk it before the session on your own machine equivalent: know the signing dance (free Apple ID, automatic signing, trust-the-developer on the phone, Developer Mode toggle). If their first device build hits a wall, fall back to the simulator immediately and move the on-device moment to the end, a running app in the simulator beats a dead hour of certificate archaeology. The phone moment matters (it's the arc's dopamine), but it can be minute 110 instead of minute 40.
PM-to-PM: tolerances and exceptions
/freeze is your tolerance boundary made physical: work-as-planned proceeds inside it without escalation; anything outside is an exception that must surface. When the /unfreeze moment comes (engineer it if it doesn't happen naturally, ask for an app icon, which lives outside the frozen folder), run the full ritual out loud: why → unfreeze → change → re-freeze → noted. Thirty seconds of ceremony now is what "exception management" means for the rest of their career. Also name what /guard is underneath: the same permission prompts from day one, with the volume turned up, harness, not magic.
/investigate: stage the demo if nature doesn't provide
You need one real breakage in this session. If the build goes suspiciously well,
plant one: ask for a feature with a subtle edge case (save with empty
date). What must land: the skill reports a root cause before any fix,
and they can retell the cause in their own words. If they can't explain it,
neither of you is done with it, that's the bar for the solo stretch too
(homework's bugs: log line).
The solo stretch (this is the real deliverable)
Session 7's success is decided by whether in this stretch works, the wiring session assumes a finished local-first app to wire. Agree the protocol before they leave, explicitly:
- One stage per session, two sessions minimum. The rhythm every time:
/context-restore→ build the stage →/ios-qa→ commit →/context-save. - Stuck >30 min → message you: the /context-save summary + screenshot + specific question. Two failed corrections → revert, fresh session, better brief (they know why now).
- Genuinely blocked on one step → mark it, move on. Don't lose the stretch to one boss fight.
- Being reachable between sessions matters more in this stretch than any session content.
Sticking points
- Xcode's first real build is slow and its errors are baroque. Frame: "this is why iOS got the waterfall project, the loop is slow, so thinking first wins." The methodology lesson is hiding in the toolchain.
- They resents the freeze. Good, that means it fenced something. The answer is never "just unfreeze it quietly"; it's the ritual. Resentment of process, aired and answered, is the PM apprenticeship.
- /ios-qa findings vs spec disagreements: if QA reports something the spec actually specifies, that's not a bug, the spec can be wrong and baselined; changing it is a formal exception, not an edit. Note it on the exceptions list; the final retro is where that list pays out.
- The 7-day signing expiry lands mid-course now. The app lives three weeks before its gate, so it will vanish off their phone at least twice. Warn them in this session, kindly, before Apple does it rudely, the fix (re-run from Xcode) is on the iOS corner cheatsheet and in the homework.