Planning

Universal planning methodology for technical implementation and general project planning.

Mode Selection

Project Type Mode Key Focus

Software/Technical Implementation Codebase analysis, architecture, code changes

Business/Personal/Creative Project Goals, milestones, resources, timeline

Technical Implementation Planning

Use when: Planning software features, system architecture, technical solutions

Core Principles

Always honor YAGNI, KISS, and DRY principles. Be honest, be brutal, straight to the point, and be concise.

Workflow

Research & Analysis → references/research-phase.md

• Skip if: Provided with researcher reports

Codebase Understanding → references/codebase-understanding.md

• Skip if: Provided with scout reports

Solution Design → references/solution-design.md

Plan Organization → references/plan-organization.md

Task Breakdown → references/output-standards.md

Output Structure

plans/ └── YYYYMMDD-HHmm-plan-name/ ├── research/ ├── reports/ ├── scout/ ├── plan.md └── phase-XX-*.md

Requirements

• DO NOT implement code - only create plans

• Self-contained with necessary context

• Include code snippets/pseudocode when clarifying

• Provide options with trade-offs

• Detailed enough for junior developers

Project Planning (Non-Technical)

Use when: Business, personal, creative, academic, event planning

Domains

• Business: Product launches, marketing, process improvements

• Personal: Career development, learning, lifestyle changes

• Creative: Writing, art, content creation

• Academic: Research, thesis, study programs

• Events: Conferences, weddings, community events

Plan Format

Location: docs/plans/PLAN-YYYYMMDD-HHMM-{slug}.md

Frontmatter:

plan_id: PLAN-YYYYMMDD-HHMM-{slug} title: [Project Name] created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM status: draft | active | completed | on_hold category: business | personal | creative | academic | event phase: planning | execution | monitoring | complete priority: critical | high | medium | low

Required Sections

• Vision & Objectives - SMART goals, alignment

• Scope & Deliverables - In/out of scope, acceptance criteria

• Action Steps - Phased tasks with owners, durations

• Resources Required - People, budget, materials, tools

• Timeline & Milestones - Dates, checkpoints, Gantt

• Risks & Contingencies - Mitigation, early warnings

• Success Metrics - Measurable outcomes, completion criteria

Quick Templates

• references/business-plan-template.md

• references/personal-goal-template.md

• references/generic-plan-template.md

Pre-Planning Protocol

ALWAYS execute before creating new plan:

• Check for active plan: test -f docs/plan.md && cat docs/plan.md

• If exists: Ask user to continue or create new

• If none: Proceed with new plan creation

Quality Standards

Technical Plans

• Consider long-term maintainability

• Address security and performance

• Validate against codebase patterns

• Research thoroughly when uncertain

Project Plans

• All 7 sections present

• Each step has owner and deadline

• Resources are realistic

• Risks have contingencies

• Metrics are SMART

Both Types

• Be thorough and specific

• Simple, understandable structure

• Action-oriented

• Clear next steps

References

Technical Implementation

• references/research-phase.md

• Research methodology

• references/codebase-understanding.md

• Codebase analysis

• references/solution-design.md

• Architecture patterns

• references/plan-organization.md

• Plan structure

• references/output-standards.md

• Task breakdown standards

Project Templates

• references/business-plan-template.md

• references/personal-goal-template.md

• references/generic-plan-template.md

Plan quality determines implementation success. Be comprehensive.