Sprint Calendar¶

9-Month DSA Fortress · S1–S19¶

Two-week sprints. 19 sprints total, with 1 built-in buffer sprint (S19 extended). Each sprint has a hard learning load, a lab-notebook expectation, and one deliverable. The sprint is the atomic unit of this plan — not the month, not the day. If a sprint slips, the slippage log at the bottom captures it and the next sprint absorbs the delta. Do not attempt to time-travel and fix prior sprints. Move forward.

Sprint load levels:

🟢 Light (8-10h/week) — onboarding, buffer, festival weeks
🟡 Standard (10-13h/week) — typical sprint pace
🔴 Heavy (13-15h/week) — problem density peaks, avoid scheduling conflicts here

Sprint Table¶

Sprint	Dates	Phase	Primary Focus	Load	Lab Entries	Sprint Deliverable
S1	Aug 1–14	Phase 0	Big-O, complexity derivation, recurrence relations	🟡	4 min	Complexity derivation for 5 problems — written, no AI
S2	Aug 15–28	Phase 0	Mathematical thinking, pseudocode, invariants	🟡	4 min	15 LeetCode Easy solved with written complexity per problem
S3	Aug 29–Sep 11	P0→P1	Phase 0 exit gate + arrays, strings, linked lists	🟡	4 min	P0 exit check passed; from-scratch array + linked list
S4	Sep 12–25	Phase 1	Stacks, queues, hash tables, heaps	🔴	4 min	6 from-scratch implementations committed to Rung 2 repo
S5	Sep 26–Oct 9	P1→P2	Phase 1 exit gate + recursion mechanics, D&C	🟡	4 min	P1 exit check passed; Rung 1 portfolio artifact published
S6	Oct 10–23	Phase 2	Binary trees, BST (Diwali Oct 20–24: 🟢 days)	🟢	3 min	20 tree problems solved; BST validation from scratch
S7	Oct 24–Nov 6	Phase 2	Backtracking, Tries	🟡	4 min	N-Queens + permutations + Trie: all from scratch
S8	Nov 7–20	P2→P3	Phase 2 exit gate + graph fundamentals, BFS/DFS	🟡	4 min	P2 exit check passed; BFS/DFS on 8 problems
S9	Nov 21–Dec 4	Phase 3	Topological sort, Dijkstra, Bellman-Ford	🔴	4 min	Dijkstra from scratch (stale-entry skip pattern)
S10	Dec 5–18	Phase 3	Union-Find, MST (Kruskal + Prim)	🔴	4 min	Union-Find with path compression + rank: from scratch
S11	Dec 19–Jan 1	P3 buffer	Phase 3 exit gate (Dec 25–Jan 2: 🟢 days)	🟢	2 min	P3 exit check passed; 15 graph problems solved
S12	Jan 2–15	Phase 4	DP foundations, 1D DP (Pongal Jan 14–17: 🟢)	🟡	4 min	5-question framework applied to 6 problems in lab notebook
S13	Jan 16–29	Phase 4	2D grid DP, Edit Distance	🟡	4 min	Edit Distance + Unique Paths: from scratch, no reference
S14	Jan 30–Feb 12	Phase 4	Knapsack patterns, loop order mastery	🔴	4 min	0/1 and unbounded knapsack: loop direction explained from mechanism
S15	Feb 13–26	Phase 4	Interval DP, subsequences, LIS O(n log n), Tree DP	🔴	4 min	Burst Balloons solved; LIS O(n log n) on LC 300
S16	Feb 27–Mar 12	Phase 5	Segment trees (point + range update), Fenwick trees	🔴	4 min	Segment tree with lazy propagation: working implementation
S17	Mar 13–26	Phase 5	Greedy, bit manipulation, KMP, Z-algorithm	🟡	4 min	Rung 6 HARD GATE: DP Handbook published by Mar 20
S18	Mar 27–Apr 9	Phase 6	Contest strategy, template library, first rated contests	🟡	3 min	2 rated Codeforces contests completed
S19	Apr 10–27	Phase 6	Competitive mastery consolidation, upsolving, pitch prep	🟡	3 min	Rung 7 HARD GATE: ≥5 rated contests, rating ≥1200

Sprint Protocol¶

How to Run a Sprint¶

Day 1 of each sprint:

Read the sprint row in this table.
Read the corresponding month section in 01_month_by_month.md.
Open your lab notebook. Write the sprint goal in one sentence.
Set the deliverable as a calendar reminder for Day 14.

Day 14 of each sprint (Sprint Review):

Did you hit the deliverable? Yes / Partial / No.
Write 2 sentences in the lab notebook: what you learned, what slipped.
Log slippage (if any) in the Slippage Log below.
Update Rung progress in 12_portfolio/00_portfolio_ladder_table.md.

Lab Notebook Expectation¶

Minimum entries per sprint are listed in the table above. One entry = one predict-then-measure session:

Predict: “I think this solution is O(n log n) because…”
Run: execute it
Measure: check actual behavior
Reconcile: if prediction was wrong, write exactly why

This habit is the mechanism that converts solving problems into building understanding. See 13_discipline/02_lab_notebook.md for templates.

Buffer Sprints¶

S11 is the explicit buffer sprint. It sits at the end of Phase 3 over the Christmas window, which serves dual purpose: recovery from the Valley of Despair and a clean reset before Phase 4.

If S11 is not needed as a buffer (you’re on schedule), use it to:

Solve 5 additional hard graph problems
Start Rung 3 algorithm visualizer posts early
Review your entire Phase 0–3 lab notebook and write a 1-page synthesis

Do not accelerate into Phase 4 early. The rest is the point.

Slippage Log¶

Copy this template whenever a sprint deliverable is missed. Update at the next sprint review.

## Slippage Entry
Sprint: S[N]
Date: [date]
Deliverable missed: [what it was]
Root cause (honest): [1-2 sentences — not "I was busy"]
Delta absorbed by: S[N+1] / [specific action]
Adjusted deliverable: [what you will do instead, with new date]

Slippage rule: One sprint’s slip can be absorbed by the next sprint’s load adjustment. Two consecutive slips trigger a full re-plan of the current phase (not the entire roadmap). Three consecutive slips trigger the Reset Protocol in 99_pre_mortem/09_summary_and_reset_protocol.md.

Key Dates at a Glance¶

Date	Event
Aug 1, 2026	FORTRESS BEGINS — S1 starts
Oct 20–24, 2026	Diwali — protected, no practice
Nov 2026	Valley of Despair begins
Dec 25–Jan 2, 2027	Christmas/New Year — protected
Jan 14–17, 2027	Pongal — protected
Mar 20, 2027	Rung 6 HARD GATE — DP Handbook deadline
Apr 27, 2027	FORTRESS COMPLETE — 9-month exit

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