EDIRD Phase Planning

When to Invoke

• /build or /solve workflows
• [PLAN] - creating high-level plans to achieve goals
• Planning for long agentic runs for features, fixes, or research

NOT for document writing - Use dedicated workflows instead:

• /write-spec for SPEC documents
• /write-impl-plan for IMPL documents
• /write-test-plan for TEST documents
• /write-tasks-plan for TASKS documents

Quick Reference

Phases: EXPLORE → DESIGN → IMPLEMENT → REFINE → DELIVER

Workflow types: BUILD (code output) | SOLVE (knowledge/decision output)

Assessment: COMPLEXITY-LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH | PROBLEM-TYPE (RESEARCH/ANALYSIS/EVALUATION/WRITING/DECISION)

Phase Gates

EXPLORE → DESIGN

• Problem or goal clearly understood
• Workflow type determined (BUILD or SOLVE)
• Assessment complete (BUILD: COMPLEXITY | SOLVE: PROBLEM-TYPE)
• Scope boundaries defined
• No blocking unknowns requiring [ACTOR] input

DESIGN → IMPLEMENT

• Approach documented (outline, spec, or plan)
• Risky parts proven via POC (if COMPLEXITY-MEDIUM or higher)
• No open questions requiring [ACTOR] decision
• For BUILD: SPEC, IMPL, TEST documents created
• For BUILD: TASKS document created via [PARTITION]
• For SOLVE: Structure/criteria validated

IMPLEMENT → REFINE

• Core work complete (code written / document drafted)
• For BUILD: Tests pass
• For BUILD: No TODO/FIXME left unaddressed
• For SOLVE: All sections drafted
• Progress committed/saved

REFINE → DELIVER

• Self-review complete
• Verification against spec/rules passed
• For BUILD COMPLEXITY-MEDIUM+: Critique and reconcile complete
• For SOLVE: Claims verified, arguments strengthened
• All found issues fixed

Workflow Examples

BUILD (COMPLEXITY-HIGH)

[EXPLORE] → [RESEARCH] → [ANALYZE] → [ASSESS] → [SCOPE] → Gate
[DESIGN]  → [PLAN] → [WRITE-SPEC] → [WRITE-IMPL-PLAN] → [PROVE] → [PARTITION] → Gate
[IMPLEMENT] → [IMPLEMENT] → [TEST] → [FIX] → [COMMIT] → Gate (loop until green)
[REFINE] → [REVIEW] → [VERIFY] → [CRITIQUE] → [RECONCILE] → Gate
[DELIVER] → [VALIDATE] → [MERGE] → [CLOSE] → [ARCHIVE]

SOLVE (EVALUATION)

[EXPLORE] → [RESEARCH] → [ANALYZE] → [ASSESS] → EVALUATION → Gate
[DESIGN]  → [FRAME] → [OUTLINE] criteria → [DEFINE] framework → Gate
[IMPLEMENT] → [RESEARCH] options → [EVALUATE] → [SYNTHESIZE] → Gate
[REFINE] → [CRITIQUE] → [VERIFY] claims → [IMPROVE] → Gate
[DELIVER] → [CONCLUDE] → [RECOMMEND] → [VALIDATE] → [ARCHIVE]

Note: COMPLEXITY-LOW skips [PROVE], [CRITIQUE], [RECONCILE].

Phase Plan Requirements

Plans created via [PLAN] must define:

• Objectives - What success looks like
• Strategy - How to achieve objectives
• Deliverables - Concrete outputs with checkboxes
• Transitions - When to move to next phase

Planning Horizon:

[EXPLORE]   ← Plan now
[DESIGN]    ← Plan now
[IMPLEMENT] ← TBD (after DESIGN gate)
[REFINE]    ← TBD (after IMPLEMENT gate)
[DELIVER]   ← Plan now (shipping tasks from NOTES)

How to Plan Well

Goal Decomposition

1. Start with outcome - What does "done" look like?
2. Identify dependencies - What must complete before what?
3. Find parallel opportunities - What can run concurrently?
4. Size steps for testability - Each step should be verifiable

Scope Calibration

• Too big: Step takes >30min AWT or touches >3 files → decompose further
• Too small: Step takes <2min AWT → combine with adjacent step
• Right size: Verifiable outcome, clear done criteria, single responsibility

Dependency Mapping

Ask for each step:

• What inputs do I need? (determines predecessors)
• What outputs do I produce? (determines successors)
• Can this run while something else runs? (candidate for Concurrent block)

Common Planning Mistakes

• Vague objectives: "Make it work" → Define specific success criteria
• Missing dependencies: Steps that assume prior work → Explicit ← Px-Sy
• Over-sequencing: All steps linear when some could parallelize
• Under-estimating: No AWT in Strategy → Add time budget
• Skipping verification: No test step after implement → Add [TEST] or [VERIFY]

Next Action Logic

1. Check phase gate → Pass? → Next phase, first verb
2. Gate fails? → Execute verb that addresses unchecked item
3. Verb outcome: -OK → next verb | -FAIL → handle | -SKIP → next verb
4. No more verbs? → Re-evaluate gate
5. [DELIVER] done? → [CLOSE] and [ARCHIVE] if session-based

Common failure handlers:

• -FAIL on [RESEARCH], [ASSESS], [PLAN] → [CONSULT] or more [RESEARCH]
• -FAIL on [TEST], [VERIFY] → [FIX] → retry

Effort Allocation

Time Units

• AWT (Agentic Work Time) - Agent processing time, excludes user wait
• HHW (Human-Hour Work) - Human equivalent effort for task sizing

Phase Budgets by Complexity

Values are AWT guidelines, not hard limits.

Diminishing Returns

• Phase takes 2x budget without gate progress → [CONSULT]
• Same step retried 3x without improvement → [CONSULT]
• Research yields no new information after 3 sources → move on

Retry Limits

• COMPLEXITY-LOW: Infinite retries (until user stops)
• COMPLEXITY-MEDIUM/HIGH: Max 5 attempts per phase, then [CONSULT]

Mandatory Gate Output

Before proceeding to next phase, output:

## Gate: [CURRENT_PHASE] → [NEXT_PHASE]

**Complexity**: [LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH] | **Artifacts**: [list created docs]

- [x] Item - Evidence: [specific evidence]
- [ ] Item - BLOCKED: [what's missing]

**Gate status**: PASS | FAIL