Scope Decomposer (Top Orchestrator) Skill

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Scope Decomposer (Top Orchestrator)

Type: L1 Top Orchestrator Category: 2XX Planning

Top-level orchestrator for complete initiative decomposition from scope to User Stories through Epic and Story coordinators.

Purpose

What This Skill Does

Coordinates the complete decomposition pipeline for new initiatives:

Auto-discovers Team ID from kanban_board.md
Phase 1: Discovery (Team ID)
Phase 2: Epic Decomposition (delegates to ln-210-epic-coordinator)
Phase 3: Story Decomposition Loop (precompute read-only inputs in batch, then delegate to ln-220-story-coordinator per Epic sequentially)
Phase 4: RICE Prioritization Loop (optional, precompute child runtime inputs, then delegate to ln-230-story-prioritizer per applicable Epic sequentially)
Phase 5: Summary (total counts + next steps)

Runtime Contract

MANDATORY READ: Load shared/references/coordinator_runtime_contract.md, shared/references/scope_decomposition_runtime_contract.md, shared/references/scope_decomposition_summary_contract.md, shared/references/epic_plan_summary_contract.md, shared/references/coordinator_summary_contract.md

Runtime family: scope-decomposition-runtime

Identifier:

scope identifier

Phases:

PHASE_0_CONFIG
PHASE_1_DISCOVERY
PHASE_2_EPIC_DECOMPOSITION
PHASE_3_STORY_LOOP
PHASE_4_PRIORITIZATION_LOOP
PHASE_5_FINALIZE
PHASE_6_SELF_CHECK

Coordinator summary contract:

consume epic-plan from ln-210
consume story-plan from ln-220
consume story-prioritization-worker from ln-230
write final scope-decomposition coordinator summary during PHASE_5_FINALIZE

Worker Invocation (MANDATORY)

Workers delegated by phase:

Phase 2: ln-210-epic-coordinator — Epic decomposition (CREATE/REPLAN)
Phase 3: ln-220-story-coordinator — Story decomposition per Epic (sequential)
Phase 4: ln-230-story-prioritizer — Optional RICE prioritization per Epic (sequential)

# Phase 2 — Epic decomposition
node shared/scripts/epic-planning-runtime/cli.mjs start --identifier {scopeIdentifier} --manifest-file {epicManifestPath}
Skill(skill: "ln-210-epic-coordinator", args: "{scopeIdentifier} --manifest-file {epicManifestPath}")
node shared/scripts/scope-decomposition-runtime/cli.mjs record-epic-summary --identifier {scopeIdentifier} --payload-file {epicSummaryArtifactPath}

# Phase 3 — Story decomposition (per Epic, sequential)
node shared/scripts/story-planning-runtime/cli.mjs start --epic {epicId} --manifest-file {storyManifestPath}
Skill(skill: "ln-220-story-coordinator", args: "{epicId} --manifest-file {storyManifestPath}")
node shared/scripts/scope-decomposition-runtime/cli.mjs record-story-summary --identifier {scopeIdentifier} --payload-file {storySummaryArtifactPath}

# Phase 4 — RICE prioritization (optional, per Epic, sequential)
node shared/scripts/planning-worker-runtime/cli.mjs start --skill ln-230 --identifier {identifier} --manifest-file {prioritizationManifestPath} --run-id {childRunId} --summary-artifact-path {childSummaryArtifactPath}
child_run = { skill, run_id, identifier, summary_artifact_path }
childSummaryArtifactPath = .hex-skills/runtime-artifacts/runs/{parent_run_id}/story-prioritization-worker/ln-230--{identifier}.json
Skill(skill: "ln-230-story-prioritizer", args: "{identifier} --epic {epicId} --run-id {childRunId} --summary-artifact-path {childSummaryArtifactPath}")
Read {childSummaryArtifactPath}
node shared/scripts/scope-decomposition-runtime/cli.mjs record-prioritization-summary --identifier {scopeIdentifier} --payload-file {childSummaryArtifactPath}

TodoWrite format (mandatory)

- Phase 1: Discover top-level scope context (pending)
- Phase 2: Run Epic decomposition (pending)
- Phase 3: Run sequential Story loop (pending)
- Phase 4: Run optional prioritization loop (pending)
- Phase 5: Finalize scope summary (pending)
- Phase 6: Self-check (pending)

When to Use This Skill

This skill should be used when:

Start new initiative requiring full decomposition (scope → Epics → Stories)
Automate Epic + Story creation in single workflow
Prefer full pipeline over manual step-by-step invocation
Time-efficient approach for new projects (2-3 hours end-to-end)

Alternative: For granular control, invoke coordinators manually:

ln-210-epic-coordinator - CREATE/REPLAN Epics
ln-220-story-coordinator - CREATE/REPLAN Stories (once per Epic)
ln-230-story-prioritizer - RICE prioritization (once per Epic)

When NOT to Use

Do NOT use if:

Initiative already has Epics → Use ln-210-epic-coordinator REPLAN mode instead
Need to replan existing Stories → Use ln-220-story-coordinator REPLAN mode per Epic
Only need Epic creation → Use ln-210-epic-coordinator directly
Only need Story creation for specific Epic → Use ln-220-story-coordinator directly

Core Concepts

Orchestrator Pattern

ln-200-scope-decomposer is a pure coordinator - it does NOT execute work directly:

✅ Discovers context (Team ID)
✅ Makes routing decisions (which coordinator to invoke)
✅ Delegates all work via Skill tool (ln-210, ln-220, ln-230)
✅ Manages workflow state (Epic creation → Story loop)
❌ Does NOT research project docs (ln-210 does this)
❌ Does NOT generate Epic/Story documents (ln-210/ln-220 do this)
❌ Does NOT create Linear issues (coordinators do this)
❌ Does NOT prompt user (coordinators handle all user interaction)

Coordinators:

ln-210-epic-coordinator: Creates 3-7 Epics (Epic 0 for Infrastructure if applicable, Epic 1-N for business domains)
ln-220-story-coordinator: Creates 5-10 Stories per Epic (with inline standards research)

Sequential Story Decomposition

CRITICAL CONSTRAINT: Epic N Stories MUST complete before Epic N+1 starts (ln-220 includes user interaction — interactive dialog cannot be parallelized across Epics).

Why sequential?

ln-220-story-coordinator includes user interaction (Story preview confirmation)
Interactive dialog cannot be parallelized (user must review each Epic's Stories)
Ensures Epic N Stories are approved and created before starting Epic N+1
Read-only preparation MAY be batched first (Epic metadata, child manifests, artifact paths), but Story creation itself remains sequential

Example: 6 Epics → ln-220 invoked 6 times sequentially (Epic 0 → Epic 1 → Epic 2 → ... → Epic 5)

Infrastructure Epic = Epic 0

Reserved number: Epic 0 is reserved for Infrastructure Epic (if proposed by ln-210).

Numbering:

IF Infrastructure Epic exists → Epic 0 (Infrastructure), Epic 1-N (business domains)
ELSE → Epic 1-N (business domains only)

Decision: ln-210-epic-coordinator Phase 1 Step 3 automatically determines if Infrastructure Epic is needed (new project, multi-stack, security/monitoring requirements).

Auto-Discovery

Team ID: Auto-discovered from docs/tasks/kanban_board.md Linear Configuration table (see CLAUDE.md "Configuration Auto-Discovery").

Fallback: If kanban_board.md missing → ln-210-epic-coordinator will ask user directly

Workflow

Phase 1: Discovery (Automated)

Auto-discovers Team ID from docs/tasks/kanban_board.md.

Validation:

Team ID exists in kanban_board.md
If missing → Skip (ln-210 will request from user)

NO user confirmation at orchestrator level - coordinators handle all user interaction.

Output: Team ID (or None if not found)

Phase 2: Epic Decomposition (Delegated)

Objective: Create all Epics for initiative.

Managed coordinator launch:

🔄 [ORCHESTRATOR] Phase 2: Delegating Epic creation to ln-210-epic-coordinator

node shared/scripts/epic-planning-runtime/cli.mjs start --identifier {scopeIdentifier} --manifest-file {epicManifestPath}
child_run = { skill: "ln-210", run_id, identifier, summary_artifact_path }
node shared/scripts/scope-decomposition-runtime/cli.mjs record-epic-summary --identifier {scopeIdentifier} --payload-file {epicSummaryArtifactPath}

ln-210-epic-coordinator will:

Phase 1: Research project docs (requirements.md, architecture.md, tech_stack.md)
Phase 2: Auto-propose domains + Infrastructure Epic (Epic 0) → User confirms domain list
Phase 3: Build IDEAL Epic plan (Epic 0-N)
Phase 5a: Auto-extract Q1-Q4 from docs → Generate ALL Epic documents → Show batch preview → User confirms → Create all Epics
Return: Epic URLs + summary

After completion: Epics created in Linear, kanban_board.md updated.

Output: 3-7 Epics created (Epic 0 for Infrastructure if applicable, Epic 1-N for business domains)

Phase 3: Story Decomposition Loop (Sequential, Delegated)

Objective: Create Stories for EACH Epic. Prepare read-only child inputs once, then execute the Epic loop sequentially.

Sequential Loop Logic:

PREPARE once:
    1. Read epic-plan summary
    2. Precompute story child identifiers
    3. Precompute manifest paths + summary artifact paths

FOR EACH Epic (Epic 0, Epic 1, ..., Epic N):
    1. Invoke ln-220-story-coordinator for current Epic
    2. Wait for completion
    3. Verify Stories created in kanban_board.md
    4. Move to next Epic

Stop Conditions (Decomposition Loops)

| Condition | Action | |-----------|--------| | All Epics processed (Stories + optional RICE) | STOP — proceed to Summary | | ln-220 fails for an Epic (coordinator error) | STOP — report partial results, list completed Epics | | User cancels during Story confirmation | STOP — report completed Epics, skip remaining | | Total Story count exceeds 80 | STOP — WARN: "Scope may be too large. Continue?" |

Invocation per Epic:

🔄 [ORCHESTRATOR] Phase 3: Delegating Story creation for Epic N to ln-220-story-coordinator

node shared/scripts/story-planning-runtime/cli.mjs start --epic {epicId} --manifest-file {storyManifestPath}
child_run = { skill: "ln-220", run_id, identifier, summary_artifact_path }
node shared/scripts/scope-decomposition-runtime/cli.mjs record-story-summary --identifier {scopeIdentifier} --payload-file {storySummaryArtifactPath}

ln-220-story-coordinator will (per Epic):

Phase 1: Auto-extract Q1-Q6 from Epic + Fallback search (requirements.md, tech_stack.md)
Phase 2: Research standards inline MCP Ref (auto)
Phase 3: Build IDEAL Story plan (5-10 Stories)
Phase 4a: Generate ALL Story documents → Show preview → User confirms → Create all Stories
Return: Story URLs + summary

Sequential constraint explanation:

ln-220 includes user interaction (Story preview confirmation)
Cannot parallelize - user must review each Epic's Stories sequentially
Epic N Stories approved → Epic N+1 Stories generated

After each Epic: Stories created in Linear, kanban_board.md updated.

Output: 30-60 Stories total (5-10 per Epic × 3-7 Epics)

TodoWrite format (mandatory): Add phases and Epic iterations to todos before starting:

- Phase 1: Discovery (in_progress)
- Phase 2: Delegate to ln-210-epic-coordinator (pending)
- Phase 3: Delegate to ln-220 for Epic 0 (pending)
- Phase 3: Delegate to ln-220 for Epic 1 (pending)
- Phase 3: Delegate to ln-220 for Epic 2 (pending)
... (one todo per Epic)
- Phase 4: Delegate to ln-230 for Epic 0 (pending)
- Phase 4: Delegate to ln-230 for Epic 1 (pending)
... (one todo per Epic, optional)
- Phase 5: Summary (pending)

Mark each as in_progress when starting, completed when coordinator returns success.

Phase 4: RICE Prioritization Loop (Optional, Sequential, Delegated)

Objective: Prioritize Stories per applicable Epic using RICE scoring with market research.

OPTIONAL: Ask user "Run RICE prioritization for all Epics?" If user declines, skip to Phase 5.

Sequential Loop Logic:

PREPARE once:
    1. Set prioritization_enabled=true|false in runtime state
    2. Determine expected_prioritization_epics (only Epics that should be prioritized)
    3. Precompute child identifiers, manifests, and artifact paths

FOR EACH expected Epic:
    1. Invoke ln-230-story-prioritizer for current Epic
    2. Wait for completion
    3. Verify prioritization.md created in docs/market/[epic-slug]/
    4. Move to next Epic

Invocation per Epic:

node shared/scripts/planning-worker-runtime/cli.mjs start --skill ln-230 --identifier {identifier} --manifest-file {prioritizationManifestPath} --run-id {childRunId} --summary-artifact-path {childSummaryArtifactPath}
child_run = { skill: "ln-230", run_id, identifier, summary_artifact_path }
node shared/scripts/scope-decomposition-runtime/cli.mjs record-prioritization-summary --identifier {scopeIdentifier} --payload-file {childSummaryArtifactPath}

ln-230-story-prioritizer will (per Epic):

Load Stories metadata from Linear
Research market size and competition per Story
Calculate RICE score and assign Priority (P0-P3)
Generate docs/market/[epic-slug]/prioritization.md

Skip condition: If Epic contains only technical or infrastructure Stories with no meaningful business ordering decision, do not add that Epic to expected_prioritization_epics.

After each Epic: Prioritization table saved to docs/market/[epic-slug]/prioritization.md and recorded under that Epic's summary.

Finalize rule: If prioritization is enabled, runtime finalize is allowed only after ALL expected_prioritization_epics have recorded story-prioritization-worker summaries.

Output: Prioritization tables for all applicable Epics.

Phase 5: Summary and Next Steps

Objective: Provide complete decomposition overview using aggregated results from all Epic-level summaries.

🔄 [ORCHESTRATOR] Phase 5: Full decomposition complete

Initiative Decomposition Summary:
- Epics created: N Projects (Epic 0: Infrastructure [if exists], Epic 1-N: Business domains)
- Stories created: M Issues (breakdown per Epic)
- Prioritization completed: K Epic tables (aggregated across all expected Epic runs)
- Location: docs/tasks/kanban_board.md

Next Steps:
1. Run ln-310-multi-agent-validator to validate all Stories
2. Use ln-400-story-executor to process each Story (tasks → execution → Done)
   OR use ln-300-task-coordinator to create tasks manually for each Story

Output: Summary message with full decomposition results

Before PHASE_6_SELF_CHECK, write the final coordinator artifact:

node shared/scripts/scope-decomposition-runtime/cli.mjs record-scope-summary --identifier {scopeIdentifier} --payload-file {scopeSummaryPath}

Critical Rules

1. No User Prompts at Orchestrator Level

Orchestrator does NOT prompt user:

❌ NO "Proceed with decomposition?" confirmation (redundant - coordinators already confirm)
❌ NO time estimates (misleading - actual time varies)
❌ NO Epic/Story previews (coordinators handle this)

All user interaction delegated to coordinators:

ln-210 Phase 2: Domain approval (USER CONTROL POINT 1)
ln-210 Phase 5a: Epic batch preview (USER CONTROL POINT 2)
ln-220 Phase 4a: Story preview per Epic (USER CONTROL POINT 3, N times)

2. Parallelize Only Read-Only Preparation

Batch preparation is allowed for metadata loading, manifest generation, and artifact path planning.
Do NOT parallelize Epic or Story mutations across Epics.
Do NOT parallelize user-facing preview checkpoints.

Definition of Done

Before completing work, verify ALL checkpoints:

✅ Team ID Discovered (Phase 1):

[ ] Team ID loaded from kanban_board.md OR skipped (ln-210 will request)

✅ Epic Decomposition Complete (Phase 2):

[ ] Delegated to ln-210-epic-coordinator
[ ] 3-7 Epics created (Epic 0 for Infrastructure if applicable, Epic 1-N for business domains)
[ ] Epic URLs returned
[ ] Epics visible in kanban_board.md
[ ] epic-plan summary recorded in runtime state

✅ Story Decomposition Complete (Phase 3):

[ ] Delegated to ln-220-story-coordinator for EACH Epic (sequential)
[ ] 5-10 Stories created per Epic
[ ] Story URLs returned for each Epic
[ ] All Stories visible in kanban_board.md (Backlog section)
[ ] story-plan summaries recorded for all processed Epics

✅ RICE Prioritization Complete (Phase 4, optional):

[ ] User asked about prioritization (skip if declined)
[ ] Runtime recorded whether prioritization is enabled
[ ] Runtime recorded expected_prioritization_epics when prioritization is enabled
[ ] Delegated to ln-230-story-prioritizer for each expected Epic
[ ] Prioritization tables saved to docs/market/[epic-slug]/
[ ] story-prioritization-worker summaries recorded for all expected Epics

✅ Summary Provided (Phase 5):

[ ] Total counts displayed (Epics, Stories, breakdown per Epic)
[ ] kanban_board.md location shown
[ ] Next steps provided (validation, task creation)
[ ] Final scope-decomposition summary recorded before self-check

Output: Summary message with full decomposition results (Epics + Stories per Epic)

Integration with Ecosystem

Called By

Users directly: "Decompose initiative: [initiative name]" or "Create epics and stories for [project]"

Calls (via Skill tool)

ln-210-epic-coordinator (Phase 2) - CREATE mode (batch Epic creation with batch preview)
ln-220-story-coordinator (Phase 3, sequential loop) - CREATE mode per Epic (Story creation with preview)
ln-230-story-prioritizer (Phase 4, optional sequential loop) - RICE prioritization per Epic

Downstream

After ln-200-scope-decomposer completes:

ln-310-multi-agent-validator - validates all created Stories before task creation
ln-400-story-executor - processes each Story (tasks → execution → Done)
- OR ln-300-task-coordinator - creates tasks manually for each Story

Best Practices

Coordinator Trust

Trust coordinator results: Coordinators return summary, orchestrator doesn't re-verify.

Error handling: If coordinator returns error, report to user and stop pipeline.

Time Estimates

Realistic estimate: 2-3 hours for full decomposition (6 Epics × 7 Stories avg = 42 Stories).

Breakdown:

Phase 2 (Epic creation): 30-45 min (batch preview reduces time)
Phase 3 (Story creation): 1.5-2 hours (6 Epics × 15-20 min per Epic)
Phase 4 (Summary): 2 min

Do NOT provide time estimates to user - varies based on project complexity and user response time.

Example Usage

Request:

"Decompose initiative: E-commerce Platform"

Execution:

Phase 1: Discovery
- Team ID loaded from kanban_board.md
Phase 2: Epic Decomposition
- Invoke ln-210-epic-coordinator
- ln-210 creates 6 Epics:
  - Epic 11 (Infrastructure Epic 0 pattern)
  - Epic 12-16 (business domains)
- Output: 6 Epic URLs
Phase 3: Story Decomposition Loop (Sequential)
- Epic 11: Invoke ln-220 → 6 Stories (US017-US022)
- Epic 12: Invoke ln-220 → 7 Stories (US023-US029)
- Epic 13: Invoke ln-220 → 5 Stories (US030-US034)
- Epic 14: Invoke ln-220 → 6 Stories (US035-US040)
- Epic 15: Invoke ln-220 → 7 Stories (US041-US047)
- Epic 16: Invoke ln-220 → 5 Stories (US048-US052)
- Output: 36 Stories total

Phase 4: Summary

🔄 [ORCHESTRATOR] Full decomposition complete

Initiative: E-commerce Platform
- Epics created: 6 Projects (Epic 11: Infrastructure, Epic 12-16: Business domains)
- Stories created: 36 Issues
  - Epic 11: 6 Stories
  - Epic 12: 7 Stories
  - Epic 13: 5 Stories
  - Epic 14: 6 Stories
  - Epic 15: 7 Stories
  - Epic 16: 5 Stories
- Location: docs/tasks/kanban_board.md

Next Steps:
1. Run ln-310-multi-agent-validator to validate all Stories
2. Use ln-400-story-executor to process each Story (tasks → execution → Done)

Result: 6 Epics + 36 Stories created through full pipeline automation

Phase 6: Meta-Analysis

MANDATORY READ: Load shared/references/meta_analysis_protocol.md

Skill type: planning-coordinator. Run after all phases complete. Output to chat using the planning-coordinator format.

Reference Files

Configuration source: docs/tasks/kanban_board.md (Team ID, Next Epic Number)
Epic coordinator: ln-210-epic-coordinator/SKILL.md
Story coordinator: ln-220-story-coordinator/SKILL.md
Story prioritizer: ln-230-story-prioritizer/SKILL.md
Numbering conventions: shared/references/numbering_conventions.md (Epic 0 reserved)

Chat Output Prefix

Use emoji prefix for visual differentiation:

🔄 [ORCHESTRATOR] - ln-200-scope-decomposer (top orchestrator)

Purpose: Helps users track orchestrator progress when delegating to multiple coordinators.

Version: 2.0.0 Last Updated: 2025-11-20

Agent Skills: Scope Decomposer (Top Orchestrator)

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