Task Planning Skill | Agent Skills

Task Planning

Overview

Transforms specifications and implementation plans into concrete, dependency-ordered tasks. Creates phased breakdowns that guide systematic implementation.

When To Use

Converting specifications to implementation tasks
Planning feature implementation order
Identifying parallel execution opportunities
Breaking down complex features into phases

When NOT To Use

Writing specifications - use spec-writing

Task Phases

Tasks follow a 5-phase structure from setup through polish:

Phase 0: Setup - Project initialization, dependencies, configuration
Phase 1: Foundation - Data models, interfaces, test infrastructure
Phase 2: Core Implementation - Business logic, APIs, services
Phase 3: Integration - External services, middleware, logging
Phase 4: Polish - Optimization, documentation, final testing

For detailed phase definitions, selection guidelines, and anti-patterns, see modules/phase-structure.md.

Task Format

Each task includes:

ID: Unique identifier (TASK-001)
Description: Clear action statement
Phase: Which phase it belongs to
Dependencies: Tasks that must complete first
Parallel Marker: [P] if can run concurrently
Files: Affected file paths
Criteria: How to verify completion

Dependency Rules

Dependencies define execution order and identify parallelization opportunities:

Sequential Tasks: Execute in strict order when dependencies exist
Parallel Tasks [P]: Can run concurrently when ALL nonconflicting conditions are met
File Coordination: Tasks affecting same files MUST run sequentially

Nonconflicting Criteria for Parallel Execution:

✅ Files: No file overlap between tasks
✅ State: No shared configuration or global state
✅ Dependencies: All prerequisites satisfied
✅ Code paths: No merge conflicts possible
✅ Outputs: Tasks don't need each other's results

Mark tasks with [P] ONLY if they pass ALL criteria above.

For fan-out/fan-in patterns, task ID conventions, and validation rules, see modules/dependency-patterns.md.

Example Task Entry

## Phase 2: Core Implementation

### TASK-007 - Implement user authentication service [P]
**Dependencies**: TASK-003, TASK-004
**Files**: src/services/auth.ts, src/types/user.ts
**Criteria**: All auth tests pass, tokens are valid JWT

Verification: Run pytest -v to verify tests pass.

Quality Checklist

[ ] All requirements mapped to tasks
[ ] Dependencies are explicit
[ ] Parallel opportunities identified
[ ] Tasks are right-sized (not too large/small)
[ ] Each task has clear completion criteria

Related Skills

spec-writing: Creating source specifications
speckit-orchestrator: Workflow coordination

Exit Criteria

[ ] Every task has a unique ID in TASK-NNN format and includes Description, Phase (0-4), Dependencies list, Parallel marker ([P] or sequential), Files, and Criteria fields
[ ] Tasks marked [P] pass all 5 nonconflicting criteria: no file overlap, no shared state, dependencies satisfied, no merge conflicts possible, no output dependency on each other
[ ] Every functional requirement from the source spec is mapped to at least one task; unmapped requirements are flagged
[ ] Quality checklist passes all items before output is finalized
[ ] Tasks within each phase are ordered so that no task depends on one with a higher task number within the same phase

Agent Skills: Task Planning

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