Our review

This skill provides a structured methodology for software project planning, covering discovery, requirements gathering, user story writing, and scope management.

Strengths

Comprehensive approach covering all planning phases
Reusable templates for project briefs and epics
Prioritization (MoSCoW) and estimation (T-shirt sizing) frameworks

Limitations

Does not account for specific organizational constraints
May need adaptation for agile or waterfall methodologies
Lacks integration with external project management tools

When to use it

Use this skill when starting a new project or feature to structure planning and align stakeholders.

When not to use it

Avoid this skill if the project is already fully planned or if you need highly iterative exploration without a formal framework.

Examples

New Project Planning

I'm building a mobile app for meal planning. Help me create a project brief including problem statement, goals, success metrics, and scope. Use the template from your project planning skill.

User Story Creation

We need to add a grocery list feature to our meal planning app. Write user stories for this feature using the As a/I want/So that format, with acceptance criteria and priority levels.

Risk Assessment

For the meal planning app project, identify potential risks using the risk assessment framework. Suggest mitigations for scope creep and technical debt.

name: project-planning description: Expert knowledge in project planning, requirements gathering, user stories, and scope management. Use when planning new projects or features. allowed-tools: Read, Write, WebSearch

Project Planning Skill

Comprehensive knowledge for planning software projects from ideation to execution.

Planning Methodology

1. Discovery Phase

Questions to Ask:

What problem are we solving?
Who are the target users?
What does success look like?
What are the constraints?
What's the timeline?

2. Requirements Gathering

Requirement Types:

Functional: What the system must do
Non-Functional: How well it must do it
Technical: Implementation constraints
Business: Organizational needs

3. User Story Format

**As a** [type of user]
**I want** [goal/desire]
**So that** [benefit/value]

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- [ ] Criterion 1
- [ ] Criterion 2
- [ ] Criterion 3

**Priority:** P0/P1/P2
**Estimate:** S/M/L/XL

4. Prioritization Framework

MoSCoW Method:

Must Have: Critical for MVP
Should Have: Important but not critical
Could Have: Nice to have
Won't Have: Out of scope (for now)

Priority Levels: | Priority | Description | Timeline | |----------|-------------|----------| | P0 | Critical | Immediate | | P1 | High | This sprint | | P2 | Medium | Next sprint | | P3 | Low | Backlog |

5. Estimation Techniques

T-Shirt Sizing: | Size | Complexity | Time | |------|------------|------| | XS | Trivial | < 1 hour | | S | Simple | 1-4 hours | | M | Medium | 4-8 hours | | L | Complex | 1-3 days | | XL | Very Complex | > 3 days |

Story Points (Fibonacci): 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21

6. Scope Management

In Scope:

Explicitly defined features
Agreed requirements
Documented acceptance criteria

Out of Scope:

Features deferred to future
Explicitly excluded items
Nice-to-haves beyond MVP

7. Risk Assessment

| Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation | |------|------------|--------|------------| | Scope creep | High | High | Strict change control | | Technical debt | Medium | Medium | Regular refactoring | | Key person dependency | Medium | High | Documentation, pairing |

Templates

Project Brief Template

# Project: [Name]

## Overview
[1-2 sentence description]

## Problem Statement
[What problem does this solve?]

## Goals
1. [Primary goal]
2. [Secondary goal]
3. [Tertiary goal]

## Success Metrics
- [Metric 1]: [Target]
- [Metric 2]: [Target]

## Scope
### In Scope
- [Feature 1]
- [Feature 2]

### Out of Scope
- [Excluded 1]
- [Excluded 2]

## Timeline
- Phase 1: [Date]
- Phase 2: [Date]
- Launch: [Date]

Epic Template

# Epic: [Name]

## Description
[What this epic accomplishes]

## User Stories
- [ ] US-001: [Story]
- [ ] US-002: [Story]

## Acceptance Criteria
- [ ] [Criterion]

## Dependencies
- [Dependency 1]

Project Planning

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