Planning Workflow

Planning produces artifacts that a build agent can execute without ambiguity. The templates in this skill enforce the discipline that separates planning from implementation: design decisions are made before structure is committed, structure is committed before implementation is tasked, and each implementation phase is independently verifiable.

The core constraint across all templates: no implementation detail in the design phase, no design decisions in the plan phase, no new behavior in a verification gate.

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Vertical Slicing

All implementation plans produced with this skill decompose work into vertical slices — units of change that deliver one complete, observable behavior end-to-end, from the outermost interface to the innermost dependency.

A vertical slice is not a layer (not "implement the database layer"). It is a behavior (e.g., "a user can place an order and receive a confirmation").

Each slice:

• Has a failing test written before any implementation begins (TDD red phase)
• Delivers something demonstrable at its verification gate
• Can be deployed or rolled back independently of other slices

IMPORTANT: Horizontal slicing — grouping changes by technical layer across multiple behaviors — is the primary anti-pattern. A plan where Phase 1 is "all models", Phase 2 is "all services", Phase 3 is "all controllers" cannot be verified incrementally and produces no working software until the final phase.

For TDD integration within each slice, load relevant skills before authoring the Tests First section of any phase.

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Templates

One template per phase. Each is self-contained: output schema + production instructions. Load only what the current phase requires.

Template	Phase	Load when
templates/research.md	R	Producing a research document; need the schema, frontmatter fields, and inline summary format
templates/design-concept.md	D	Producing a design concept; need the output schema and production instructions
templates/outline.md	S	Producing a structure outline; need the component schema, boundary format, and production instructions
templates/plan.md	P	Producing an implementation plan; need the vertical slice schema, Tests First structure, and verification gates
templates/iterate.md	I	Revising an existing plan; need the surgical revision workflow, design escalation rule, and output format
templates/session-summary.md	—	Completing an orchestrated QRSPI session; need the artifact path summary format

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Workflow Position

Q — Questions    → use question tool
R — Research     → templates/research.md
D — Design       → templates/design-concept.md
S — Structure    → templates/outline.md
P — Plan         → templates/plan.md
I — Iterate      → templates/iterate.md

A design concept must exist and be approved before a plan is authored. If the design concept is absent, pause and complete the design phase first.