Planning
Turning a goal into ordered engineering work: breakdowns, implementation plans, estimates, feature tracks.
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- Break down an epic
Splits an epic into small, ordered vertical slices that each deliver testable value, with acceptance checks, dependencies and spikes. Use when an epic or large feature is too big to start.
- Estimate work as a range
Breaks engineering work into tasks and produces a range estimate with a confidence level, stated assumptions and the unknowns that need a spike. Use when asked "how long will this take?".
- Plan a spike
Turns a technical unknown into a time-boxed spike with a sharp question, exit criteria, cheapest-first experiments and a clear deliverable. Use when an unknown blocks a decision or an estimate.
- Write an implementation plan
Reads the codebase and writes an ordered implementation plan in small verifiable steps, with files to touch, tests, rollout and risks. Use before coding any change that spans several files.
- Feature track
Takes a feature from open questions to a reviewed implementation in six gated steps, saving each step's artifact to the repo. Use for any change bigger than a quick fix.
- Plan a sprint
Builds a sprint plan from a backlog and real capacity, with a sprint goal, committed and stretch items, dependencies, risks and what it deliberately leaves out. Use before sprint planning.
- Triage an issue backlog
Triages a batch of issues for maintainers with duplicates, labels, severity, needs-info replies and what to close. Use when the tracker grows faster than the team can read it.
- Write a tech debt proposal
Turns a piece of technical debt into a business case with evidence, cost of delay, options, the smallest valuable paydown and success measures. Use when you need product or leadership buy-in.
- Write a technical roadmap
Writes an engineering roadmap from goals and known tech debt, with themes, sequencing, dependencies, capacity assumptions and what is deliberately left out. Use for quarterly or half-year planning.
Not: product requirements (product); architecture decisions (architecture); personal to-do lists (task-management).