Reconcile an uncertain reply send after a connection drop
The server accepts a reply, but Wi-Fi drops before acknowledgement. Clicking Send again duplicates the email. Model an uncertain result and recover through operation lookup.
- Focused work estimate
- 3h 30m + prerequisites
- Priority in the scenario
- Urgent
- Engineering practice
- Idempotency · State machines · Network recovery
Estimated field mix
- Frontend60%
- Distributed systems40%
Field percentages are editorial estimates of the ticket's engineering focus. They total 100%; they are not measured time, proficiency scores, or ownership evidence.
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Project context
The fictional Alder support team handles billing and delivery conversations in a browser console. Agents keep several tickets open, share filtered queues, and work through unreliable office Wi-Fi. The API contract returns ticket revisions and cursor-based pages; work stays within the console and its test adapter.
Setup prerequisites
- A ticket-list and reply API contract to implement or stub
- Synthetic conversations across two organizations with revision conflicts
Preceding work
Complete these dependencies, or supply their agreed outputs before taking this ticket.
- DESK-101 · Keep shared queue links useful after refresh
- DESK-102 · Separate an empty queue from a failed request
- DESK-103 · Stop a late search response replacing the current queue
- DESK-104 · Restore the right reply draft when switching tickets
- DESK-106 · Show assignment conflicts without pretending a save worked
Acceptance criteria
- One operation key survives timeout and explicit retry.
- Uncertain sending preserves the draft and checks status before clearing it.
- Changed text receives a new operation only after reconciliation; account changes stop status polling.
Implementation constraints
- Use a stubbed idempotent send/status contract; actual email delivery is excluded.
Verification to include
- Accept sending but drop the response, then report accepted from lookup; display one reply.
- Return unknown and then unavailable from lookup; preserve the draft and prevent an unkeyed duplicate.
Deliverables
- Reply send state machine and lost-acknowledgement test
Rollout and recovery
Pilot with synthetic mailboxes; disable the new sending flow if operation reconciliation cannot be trusted.
Value of the work
For the engineer: Practice state ownership, asynchronous races, accessible interaction, and recovery in bounded changes.
For the team: Inspect how an engineer protects agent work and handles failures that interrupt support operations.
Evidence boundaries
Outcome Evidence: Tests, patches, and runbooks are requested deliverables. They become Outcome Evidence only through a qualified Mission and immutable Evidence IDs.
Ownership Evidence: Independent adaptation must be observed under a declared verification policy and cite immutable Evidence IDs. Completing a planning ticket establishes no Ownership Evidence.