project-planning

Delegation

For detailed task planning workflows, this skill delegates to spec-kit:task-planning as the canonical implementation. Use this skill for quick planning needs; use spec-kit for thorough project plans.

When To Use

• After specification phase completes
• Need to design system architecture
• Need task breakdown for implementation
• Planning sprints and resource allocation
• Converting requirements into concrete tasks
• Defining component interfaces and dependencies

When NOT To Use

• No specification exists yet (use Skill(attune:project-specification) first)
• Still exploring problem space (use Skill(attune:project-brainstorming) instead)
• Ready to execute existing plan (use Skill(attune:project-execution) instead)
• Need to adjust running project (update plan incrementally, don't restart)

Integration

With superpowers:

• Uses Skill(superpowers:writing-plans) for structured planning
• Applies checkpoint-based execution patterns
• Uses dependency analysis framework

Without superpowers:

• Standalone planning methodology
• Task breakdown templates
• Dependency tracking patterns

Quality Checks

Before completing plan:

• ✅ All architecture components documented
• ✅ File Structure section present before tasks
• ✅ All task files appear in File Structure table
• ✅ All FRs mapped to tasks
• ✅ All tasks have acceptance criteria
• ✅ Dependencies are acyclic
• ✅ Effort estimates provided
• ✅ Critical path identified
• ✅ Risks assessed with mitigations
• ✅ Sprints balanced by capacity

Record the Tradeoff (decision journal)

Planning is where architecture and scope decisions get made: the pattern chosen, the dependency accepted, the work deferred. Record each decision that had real alternatives to docs/tradeoffs.md (draft and confirm):

• If leyline is installed, invoke Skill(leyline:decision-journal) and append a tradeoff entry (the decision, the options weighed, and what was sacrificed; set phase to plan). Show the draft; append on confirmation.
• Fallback (leyline absent): append to docs/tradeoffs.md using the in-file ENTRY TEMPLATE; assign the next TR-NNN id.

Post-Completion: Workflow Continuation (REQUIRED)

Automatic Trigger: After Quality Checks pass and docs/implementation-plan.md is saved, MUST auto-invoke the next phase.

When continuation is invoked:

1. Verify docs/implementation-plan.md exists and is non-empty
2. Display checkpoint message to user:

   Implementation plan complete. Saved to docs/implementation-plan.md.
   Proceeding to execution phase...
   

3. Invoke next phase:

   Skill(attune:project-execution)
   

Bypass Conditions (ONLY skip continuation if ANY true):

• --standalone flag was provided by the user
• docs/implementation-plan.md does not exist or is empty (phase failed)
• User explicitly requests to stop after planning

Do NOT prompt the user for confirmation: this is a lightweight checkpoint, not an interactive gate. The user can always interrupt if needed.

Exit Criteria

• docs/implementation-plan.md exists, is non-empty, and passes Quality Checks (acyclic dependencies, FRs mapped, critical path identified).
• Architecture and scope decisions with alternatives are recorded to docs/tradeoffs.md.
• The execution phase is auto-invoked unless a bypass condition holds.

Related Skills

• Skill(superpowers:writing-plans) - Planning methodology (if available)
• Skill(spec-kit:task-planning) - Task breakdown (if available)
• Skill(attune:project-specification) - Previous phase
• Skill(attune:project-execution) - AUTO-INVOKED next phase after planning
• Skill(attune:mission-orchestrator) - Full lifecycle orchestration

Related Commands

• /attune:blueprint - Invoke this skill
• /attune:execute - Next step in workflow

Examples

See /attune:blueprint command documentation for complete examples.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

If you find circular dependencies in your task graph, break one of the tasks into smaller sub-tasks. If sprint capacity is consistently exceeded, re-estimate tasks using the Fibonacci scale or reduce sprint scope.