Project Planning

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Provides structured methodologies for planning software projects, including discovery phase, requirements gathering, user story writing, prioritization (MoSCoW), estimation (T-shirt sizing, story points), and scope management. Helps when starting new projects or features.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
DevelopmentIntermediate
6/2/2026
Claude Code
#project-planning#requirements-gathering#user-stories#scope-management#risk-assessment

Recommended for

Automated summary

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.

Security analysis

Safe
Quality score92/100

The skill contains only project planning methodologies and templates, with no executable code, risky commands, or data exfiltration instructions.

No concerns found

How this analysis is made

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]

From the file to a first result

The download contains exactly the content displayed on this page. This copy may differ from the latest version in the source repository.

View the source and supporting files

This download contains SKILL.md only. Any scripts, references, templates and dependencies are not included. Get the required files from the source, preserving their directory structure, before continuing.

1. Download the file

Download SKILL.md

From the root of a test project, save the file as .skill-downloads/project-planning-mm8o5281/SKILL.md, or use the command below. This folder is for inspecting the skill before installation.

Command for macOS/Linux or WSL: requires a POSIX shell and curl. On Windows without WSL, use the download button and create the folder manually.

mkdir -p '.skill-downloads/project-planning-mm8o5281' && curl --fail --show-error --location 'https://skills-guides.com/api/skills/project-planning-mm8o5281/download' --output '.skill-downloads/project-planning-mm8o5281/SKILL.md.part' && mv '.skill-downloads/project-planning-mm8o5281/SKILL.md.part' '.skill-downloads/project-planning-mm8o5281/SKILL.md'

2. Check prerequisites

Read SKILL.md before using it. If it references scripts or external services, inspect them and prepare the required access in your test environment.

Tools declared by the author (check availability in your agent): Read, Write, WebSearch

No recognized prerequisites section in this file. This does not mean it is self-contained: libraries, tools and access requirements may be mentioned elsewhere in the content or source repository.

The platforms on this page are catalog indications. The paths below follow tool documentation; they do not prove this skill has been run in those tools. No minimum tool version is confirmed for this listing.

3. Load the skill

After inspection, copy the complete folder into your project using one of the commands below, then open a new tool session. The command stops if a folder with the same name already exists: compare the files before replacing it.

Claude Code
test -f '.skill-downloads/project-planning-mm8o5281/SKILL.md' && test -s '.skill-downloads/project-planning-mm8o5281/SKILL.md' && mkdir -p '.claude/skills' && test ! -e '.claude/skills/project-planning' && cp -R '.skill-downloads/project-planning-mm8o5281' '.claude/skills/project-planning'

OpenSkills

OpenSkills must already be installed. The local install/read procedure is checked with OpenSkills 1.5.0, which requires Node.js ≥ 20.6.0. Catalog slugs are not resolved automatically.

Official OpenSkills installation
openskills install './.skill-downloads/project-planning-mm8o5281'

openskills read 'project-planning-mm8o5281'

Reading should display the installed file content and its base directory. It does not run the skill or install its dependencies.

For an agent that reads AGENTS.md, then sync the index. This command changes AGENTS.md: review the diff before using it.

openskills sync

Manual method or another tool: attach SKILL.md to a conversation, or open it in an agent that can read files. Include any required supporting resources. No universal folder is recognized by every tool.

4. Try a first task

Use a short, synthetic input: an API endpoint, a small document or an interface brief. In a new conversation, attach the file or give the agent its path, then adapt this request:

Read .skill-downloads/project-planning-mm8o5281/SKILL.md and apply its instructions to this example: [describe a test input]. Identify any missing files, dependencies or access. Produce the result requested by the skill without inventing data or running unreviewed scripts.

Expected result: output matching the skill instructions, or a precise list of missing prerequisites. A read confirmation alone does not validate a first use. If an external resource is unavailable, that path remains untested.

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