Scenario: Budget War Before Tapeout

Scenario

PD reports timing risk in top 5 paths, while architecture reports power overage from emergency frequency guardbands. Teams disagree on ownership.

OBSERVED METRIC
Power and timing budgets both exceed target with 10 days left

45-MINUTE INTERVIEW FLOW
0-5: establish baseline and owner boundaries
5-15: isolate first failing boundary and mechanism
15-25: prove root cause with artifacts
25-35: propose bounded fix + ownership plan
35-45: define regression scope and signoff posture

Common pitfalls

• Treating timing and power as independent

• No owner-mapped risk matrix

• Waiving critical issues without regression proof

Scenario debrief

Score each answer on baseline control, owner mapping, artifact quality, and regression completeness.

contracts -> integration -> evidence -> decision

risk trend

Debrief prompts

1. Which owner boundary failed first?

2. Which artifact proves the root cause?

3. What regression scope protects against recurrence?

Key takeaways

• State baseline manifest and owner with every closure metric.

• Run cross-domain regression after every top-level fix.

Common pitfalls

• Comparing results across different manifests.

• Unowned issues slipping through review cycles.

• Waiving risks without expiry and validation plan.