VDD Methodology
The engineering cost & delivery standard for the AI era
Verification-Driven Delivery (VDD) is an open, deterministic framework for scoping, estimating, and delivering custom software. Moving beyond billable hours and arbitrary story points, VDD anchors value where it belongs: independent expert verification and proven results.
“The billable hour is dead. AI makes code generation fast, but expert judgment, architectural integrity, and independent verification remain rare. VDD quantifies the true effort of engineering—because clients shouldn't pay for spent time, but for verified, delivered value.”
What VDD keeps, what it discards
COCOMO
Take: parametric formula
Reject: lines of code
IFPUG FPA
Take: atomic counting
Reject: CRUD-only scope
Story points
Take: nothing directly
Reject: team-relative pricing
Glossary — bracketed definition
Delivery Brick
An atomic, objectively countable unit of engineering work — one CRUD operation, one endpoint, one UI component.
Eleven brick categories
01 · CRUD / data
02 · API / endpoint
06 · AI / CV / ML capability
10 · Environment setup action
11 categories total · full numbering and rules in the spec →
Pricing formula
price/brick = hourly rate ÷ bricks per hour
Timeline — not a single date
Open tooling — free, on GitHub
The counting method is free to implement yourself. These packages just save the typing — code is MIT licensed, separate from the CC BY-ND 4.0 spec text above.
@vdd-standard/core
The Brick/Unit counting engine. Import it in any JS or TS project to score a spec against the 11 categories.
npm install @vdd-standard/core
@vdd-standard/cli
Command-line counting against a local vdd-spec.yaml — no editor plugin or platform account required.
npm install -g @vdd-standard/cli # count every category in ./spec vdd count ./spec
@vdd-standard/schema
JSON Schema and TypeScript types for vdd-spec.yaml — validates structure before anyone tries to count it.
npm install @vdd-standard/schema
vdd-spec-linter
Validates every pull request's vdd-spec.yaml against the 11 category rules before merge — part of the Re-Bricking procedure when scope changes.
# .github/workflows/vdd.yml - uses: vdd-standard/spec-linter-action@v1
Licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0
Synthesizing proven principles from COCOMO, IFPUG FPA, PERT, and Wideband Delphi.
Initiated by SOFYCOD · Automation partner: CLARIBRICK.AI
© 2026 Alexander Lipanov. All rights reserved for the VDD specification text and original content. COCOMO, IFPUG Function Point Analysis (ISO/IEC 20926), PERT, and Wideband Delphi are cited as historical precedent only — VDD claims no ownership over them; they remain the property of their respective originators and standards bodies.