Task Planning

Turn vague goals into concrete action plans. Plan, track, adapt, and finish.

When to Use

• Starting a new project, goal, or initiative
• Organizing a complex task into manageable steps
• Reviewing progress and adjusting plans
• Daily or weekly planning and prioritization
• Feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure where to start

Glossary

• Outcome — the finished state. What exists when the goal is achieved. Not a task, but a state of the world
• Phase — a group of related tasks that produces a visible deliverable. Each phase is achievable in 1-3 sessions
• Deliverable — something concrete that exists when a phase is complete. "Setup done" is not a deliverable. "Working login page" is
• Critical path — the sequence of phases where any delay delays the whole goal. Phases NOT on the critical path can slip without affecting the deadline
• Minimum viable path — the fewest phases needed to reach a useful outcome. Everything else is improvement
• Session — one focused work period (typically 1-3 hours). Plans should be actionable within sessions

Mode Detection

Determine what the user needs:

• (a) New goal → full planning workflow
• (b) Existing plan → review and adjust
• (c) Daily/weekly planning → schedule and prioritize
• (d) Stuck or blocked → troubleshooting

Full Planning Workflow

Phase 1: Clarify the Outcome

Ask one question at a time. Socratic method — let the user discover the real goal through conversation.

Start with:

• "What does 'done' look like? Paint me the picture of the finished state."

Then explore:

• "What's the hardest part you're anticipating?" (reveals hidden complexity)
• "What would make this not worth doing?" (reveals true success criteria — the conditions where effort exceeds value)
• "Is there a deadline, or is this flexible?" (determines planning pressure)
• "What have you already tried or considered?" (avoids re-planning known paths)

Mirror back: "So the goal is [outcome], the hardest part is [X], and success looks like [Y]. Right?"

Don't proceed to decomposition until the outcome is clear and agreed upon.

Phase 2: Decompose

Break the goal into 3-7 phases. Each phase must produce a deliverable.

For each phase, specify:

Field	Must Include	Example
Name	verb + noun	"Set up payment integration"
Deliverable	concrete noun	"Working checkout page that processes test cards"
Estimated time	range + confidence	"2-4 hours (medium confidence — depends on API docs)"
Dependencies	phase numbers	"Depends on phases 1 and 2"
Risks	what could block	"API documentation may be outdated"

Decomposition rules:

• If a phase is estimated at 8+ hours, break it further
• If a phase has no deliverable, it's probably not a real phase
• If every phase depends on the previous one, look for parallelization opportunities
• The first phase should produce something visible — early momentum matters

Phase 3: Sequence and Prioritize

Order phases by dependency, then identify:

1. Critical path — which phases MUST happen in sequence? Any delay here delays everything
2. Parallel opportunities — which phases can happen simultaneously?
3. Minimum viable path — what's the fewest phases to reach a useful outcome? Mark non-essential phases as "enhancement"
4. Quick wins — is there a phase that's short and high-impact? Consider doing it first for momentum

Present as a visual plan:

Phase 1 ──→ Phase 2 ──→ Phase 4 (critical path)
                │
                └──→ Phase 3 (parallel, can happen alongside Phase 4)

Minimum viable: Phases 1 + 2 + 4
Enhancements: Phase 3

Phase 4: Session Contract

Before the user starts working, agree on the immediate next step:

• "In this session, you'll complete [specific phase or sub-phase]"
• "Done looks like: [concrete deliverable]"
• "If you get stuck on X, come back and we'll troubleshoot. Don't spin wheels for more than 30 minutes."

Review Workflow

When the user returns to an existing plan:

1. Acknowledge — "What did you finish?" Celebrate completions
2. Learn — "What did you learn that changed the plan?" This is the most valuable question. Learnings improve estimates and reveal hidden complexity
3. Adapt — re-sequence remaining phases based on learnings. Drop phases that turned out to be unnecessary. Add phases for newly discovered work
4. Next session contract — agree on what to do next

See BLOCKERS.md for troubleshooting when progress stalls.

Scheduling Workflow

For daily or weekly planning:

1. List open tasks from all active plans
2. Ask about fixed commitments — meetings, deadlines, unavailable times
3. Assess energy — "Are you feeling high energy or low energy right now?" Match task difficulty:
   • High energy → tackle the hardest or most creative phase
   • Low energy → do mechanical or well-understood tasks
4. Propose priority stack:
   • Must-do (1-3 items) — what happens today no matter what
   • Should-do — what happens if energy/time allows
   • Can wait — explicitly deferred (not forgotten, just not today)

Plan Document Format

Maintain a living plan document:

# [Goal Name]

## Outcome
[One sentence describing the finished state]

## Phases
| # | Phase | Status | Est | Actual | Deliverable | Dependencies |
|---|-------|--------|-----|--------|-------------|--------------|
| 1 | ...   | done   | 2h  | 3h     | [deliverable] | -          |
| 2 | ...   | active | 4h  | -      | [deliverable] | 1          |
| 3 | ...   | blocked| 1h  | -      | [deliverable] | 2, API key |

## Session Log
- [Date] Phase 1 complete. Learned: [insight]. Actual vs estimated: [comparison].
- [Date] Phase 2 started. Adjusted estimate: [new estimate] because [reason].

## Next Up
[What to do in the next session — one sentence]