Run a Campaign

What You’ll Build

A campaign document with phased execution, a mission board, and quality gates. By the end, you’ll have a strategic plan that can coordinate multiple agents across multiple sessions toward a shared goal.

Prerequisites

• Convergence Model — how campaigns narrow to missions to objectives
• Mission Decomposition — breaking work into claimable objectives
• Design a Mission — writing individual mission files

Steps

Step 1: Define the Strategic Goal

A campaign is bigger than a mission. It coordinates multiple missions toward a strategic outcome. Write the goal as one sentence:

“Build a self-referential aDNA documentation vault with 80+ content files across 5 phases.”

If the goal can be achieved in a single mission (3-8 objectives), it doesn’t need a campaign.

Step 2: Design the Phases

Break the campaign into phases — each phase is a coherent stage with a gate before the next:

Phase gate rule: phases don’t auto-advance. A human approves the transition. This prevents runaway execution and ensures strategic alignment at each boundary.

Step 3: Create the Mission Board

Within each phase, list the missions:

### Phase 1: Core Content

| Mission | Title | Status | Files | Dependencies |
|---------|-------|--------|-------|-------------|
| M01 | Foundational Concepts | pending | 3 files | Phase 0 |
| M02 | Governance Concepts | pending | 4 files | M01 |
| M03 | Advanced Concepts | pending | 6 files | M01, M02 |

Each row is a mission with specific deliverables and dependencies. An agent scanning this board knows what’s done, what’s next, and what’s blocked.

Step 4: Define Quality Gates

Quality gates apply to all content within the campaign:

## Quality Gates

1. Dual audience test — legible to developers AND newcomers
2. Self-reference check — cites concrete vault examples
3. Spec citation — normative claims reference the standard
4. Cross-linking — 2+ wikilinks per file
5. Frontmatter complete — all required fields populated

Gates are checked before marking any objective complete. No exceptions.

Step 5: Write the Campaign File

Create how/campaigns/campaign_{name}/campaign_{name}.md:

---
campaign_id: campaign_docs
type: campaign
title: "Documentation Campaign"
status: active
current_phase: 1
mission_count: 8
priority: high
created: 2026-04-14
updated: 2026-04-14
last_edited_by: agent_stanley
tags: [campaign]
---

# Documentation Campaign

## Strategic Intent
{Why this campaign exists and what success looks like.}

## Phase Structure
{Table of phases with status.}

## Mission Board
{Tables of missions per phase.}

## Quality Gates
{Standards every deliverable must meet.}

## Success Criteria
{How to know the campaign achieved its goal.}

Step 6: Execute the First Mission

Create the first mission file inside how/campaigns/campaign_{name}/missions/. Claim the first objective. Start a session. Do the work. Close with a SITREP.

See it in action: This vault’s Operation Rosetta (how/campaigns/campaign_rosetta/campaign_rosetta.md) has 5 phases, 15 missions, and 6 quality gates. Browse the mission files in how/campaigns/campaign_rosetta/missions/ — each one demonstrates the decomposition pattern with objectives, context dependencies, and AARs.

What You Learned

• Campaigns coordinate multiple missions toward a strategic goal
• Phases group missions with human gates between them — no auto-advancing
• The mission board provides at-a-glance status for all work
• Quality gates ensure consistent output across all missions and sessions

Next Steps

• Federate a Vault — share your campaign’s outputs with other projects
• Open Standard — how campaigns contribute to the broader aDNA ecosystem