Planning

Create an implementation plan without prematurely implementing the work.

Purpose

Create an implementation plan without prematurely implementing the work.

Recommended

  • Inspect the current system, relevant files, configuration, tests, and constraints before prescribing a change.
  • Separate known requirements and observed facts from assumptions, decisions, and open questions.
  • Identify the smallest sound implementation path, its dependencies, owners or handoffs, and the points where the plan should be revisited.
  • Sequence the work into concrete steps with risks, compatibility concerns, and checkpoints.
  • Define the validation plan before implementation begins, including commands or observations that can prove the intended outcome.
  • State what is explicitly out of scope and what decision or evidence is still needed.

Avoid

  • Turning a planning request into an unapproved implementation.
  • Hiding unresolved product or technical decisions inside confident-sounding steps.
  • Proposing a plan disconnected from the repository's current state or validation conventions.
  • Treating a task list as complete without dependencies, risks, assumptions, and completion evidence.

Prompt skeleton

Prompt skeleton — deterministic, no model call

Objective
[State the outcome that the plan must enable.]

Current state
[Summarize the relevant system, files, tests, configuration, and observed behavior.]

Requirements and constraints
[Separate confirmed requirements, compatibility boundaries, and assumptions.]

Unknowns and investigation
[List open questions, evidence gaps, and the checks needed to resolve them.]

Proposed approach
[Describe the smallest sound approach and the rationale for choosing it.]

Implementation sequence
[Break the approach into ordered, reviewable steps with dependencies and checkpoints.]

Risks and decisions
[Identify risks, trade-offs, owners or decision points, and rollback or fallback options.]

Validation plan
[Name the commands, tests, inspections, or acceptance checks that will prove completion.]

Out of scope
[Record work that this plan deliberately does not include.]

From templates/planning.md. Placeholders describe what to fill in; nothing here invents project facts.

Evidence

official
  • officialA useful project plan covers scope, schedule, resources, deliverables, dependencies, risks, assumptions, and a feedback loop, while reflecting the project's current state.
    Create a project plan ↗

Sources