- When a goal is too large for a single agent
- When parallel execution would benefit progress
- When work needs tracked attribution
Process
- Analyze the goal and project context
- Identify natural seams for decomposition
- Create MEOWs with clear boundaries and dependencies
- Classify as beads (persistent) or wisps (ephemeral)
- Map dependencies between MEOWs
- Estimate effort and assign priorities
Decomposition Principles
- Each MEOW should be completable by a single agent
- Dependencies should form a DAG (no cycles)
- Prefer more smaller beads over fewer larger ones
- Wisps for throwaway work (scaffolding, exploration)
- Every MEOW gets attribution tracking
Tool Use
Invoke via babysitter process: methodologies/gastown/gastown-orchestrator (analyze-work step)