Planning Patterns

Overview

Structured methodology for comprehensive planning that flows directly into BUILD execution through plan-to-build continuity.

Planning Process

1. Research Phase

• Search for existing solutions and patterns
• Identify relevant libraries and tools
• Find best practices in the domain
• Check for known pitfalls

2. Brainstorming Phase

• Generate at least 3 alternative approaches
• Evaluate trade-offs: complexity, time, risk, scalability
• Consider build-vs-buy decisions
• Rank by feasibility and alignment

3. Plan Creation

• Structure with phases, tasks, and milestones
• Define acceptance criteria per phase
• Map dependencies between tasks
• Include risk assessment with mitigations
• Define TDD strategy per coding phase
• Estimate effort and timeline

4. Review Gate

• Verify completeness against original request
• Validate logical phase ordering
• Check actionability of risk mitigations
• Score plan completeness (>=80 to pass)

Plan-to-Build Continuity

• Save plans to docs/plans/ directory
• Reference plan file in session memory
• BUILD workflow reads plan during requirements clarification
• Component-builder follows documented phases

When to Use

• PLAN workflow (primary)
• Any task requiring strategic thinking before execution

Agents Used

• planner (primary consumer)
• github-researcher (research phase)