By name: plan-project description: Project planning with tasks and risk assessment version: 1.0.0 tags: [planning, project, tasks, management]
When to Use
Use this skill when breaking down a project into tasks, estimating effort, identifying dependencies, assessing risks, or creating an implementation roadmap.
Steps
- Define goals: Clarify what "done" looks like. Identify must-have vs. nice-to-have outcomes.
- Decompose work: Break the project into concrete, actionable tasks. Each task should be completable independently and verifiable.
- Identify dependencies: Map which tasks block other tasks. Find the critical path (longest chain of dependent tasks).
- Assess risks: For each major component, identify what could go wrong, how likely it is, and what the impact would be.
- Prioritize: Order tasks by dependency constraints, risk reduction, and value delivery. Front-load high-risk items.
- Define milestones: Group tasks into phases with clear deliverables and checkpoints.
Rules
- Tasks must be specific and verifiable. "Improve performance" is not a task; "Reduce API response time to under 200ms" is.
- Every task should have a clear definition of done.
- Identify assumptions explicitly — plans fail when assumptions are wrong.
- Include buffer for unknowns proportional to the project's novelty (familiar work: 10-20%, novel work: 30-50%).
- Surface dependencies early — blocked tasks are the most common source of delays.
- Separate "what to build" decisions from "how to build" decisions.
Output Format
- Goals: What the project aims to achieve, with success criteria.
- Tasks: Numbered list with descriptions and definitions of done.
- Dependencies: Which tasks block which (can be a simple list or diagram).
- Risks: Top 3-5 risks with likelihood, impact, and mitigation strategy.
- Milestones: Phased delivery plan with checkpoints.
- Assumptions: Explicit list of things assumed to be true.