Project Planner

The Project Planner skill helps you create structured, comprehensive project plans with clear timelines, dependencies, deliverables, and resource requirements. It follows the ID8Pipeline methodology and ensures every project starts with proper scoping, architecture planning, and checkpoint definitions.

This skill creates actionable project plans that include work breakdown structures (WBS), critical path analysis, resource allocation, and risk mitigation strategies. It integrates with the ID8Pipeline 11-stage framework to ensure projects are built systematically from concept to launch.

The planner emphasizes vertical slicing, clear dependencies, and realistic timeline estimation based on team capacity and project complexity.

Core Workflows

Workflow 1: Create New Project Plan

Steps:

Discovery Phase

Gather project requirements and constraints

Identify stakeholders and team members

Define success criteria and business objectives

Clarify scope boundaries (what's in, what's out)

Scope Definition

Create one-liner problem statement (Stage 1: Concept Lock)

Define V1 feature set (max 5 core features)

Document "Not Yet" list (Stage 2: Scope Fence)

Establish quality gates and checkpoints

Work Breakdown Structure

Break project into major phases aligned with ID8Pipeline stages

Decompose features into vertical slices

Identify atomic tasks (4-8 hour chunks)

Map dependencies between tasks

Timeline Creation

Estimate task durations (consider complexity and team capacity)

Identify critical path and parallel work streams

Add buffer time (20% for uncertainty)

Set milestone dates with checkpoint criteria

Resource Planning

Assign tasks to team members or roles

Identify skill gaps or training needs

Plan for resource conflicts and availability

Allocate budget and tools

Documentation

Create PIPELINE_STATUS.md in project root

Generate PROJECT_PLAN.md with WBS and timeline

Set up tracking mechanisms (GitHub Projects, etc.)

Define communication cadence

Output:

Complete project plan with timeline, dependencies, resource allocation, and checkpoint definitions.

Workflow 2: Update Existing Project Plan

Steps:

Read current PIPELINE_STATUS.md and PROJECT_PLAN.md

Assess actual progress vs. planned progress

Identify blockers, delays, or scope changes

Recalculate timeline based on new information

Update resource allocation if needed

Revise risk mitigation strategies

Document changes and communicate to stakeholders

Workflow 3: Quick Project Kickoff

For smaller projects or MVPs:

Define one-liner (Concept Lock)

List 3-5 core features (Scope Fence)

Choose tech stack (Architecture Sketch)

Create 2-week sprint plan with daily checkpoints

Set up basic project tracking

Quick Reference

Action

Command/Trigger

Create new project plan

"plan project [name]"

Update existing plan

"update project plan"

Quick MVP kickoff

"quick project kickoff for [idea]"

Review timeline

"review project timeline"

Check dependencies

"analyze project dependencies"

Estimate completion

"when will this project finish"

Add milestone

"add milestone [name]"

Adjust resources

"replan resources for [project]"

Best Practices

Start with the one-liner

Every project needs a clear, single-sentence definition of what problem it solves for whom

Enforce scope fence

Explicitly document what's NOT in V1 to prevent scope creep

Use vertical slicing

Build complete features end-to-end rather than horizontal layers

Build in checkpoints

Every stage has a clear exit criteria question that must be answered

Plan for 70% capacity

Team members are never 100% available due to meetings, interruptions, and context switching

Make dependencies visible

Use dependency mapping to identify critical path and parallelization opportunities

Time-box estimation sessions

Spend 30-60 minutes max on initial estimates; refine as you learn

Update weekly

Review and update project plan every week based on actual progress

Track assumptions

Document all assumptions made during planning and validate them early

Create feedback loops

Build in regular checkpoints for stakeholder review and course correction

Use the ID8Pipeline

Follow the 11 stages systematically - no skipping unless explicitly overridden with reason

Plan tests early

Include test coverage requirements in timeline (Stage 7 must be complete before polish)

Integration Points

ID8Pipeline

Automatically structures plans around 11-stage framework

GitHub Projects

Can generate project boards and issues from plan

PIPELINE_STATUS.md

Maintains current stage and checkpoint status

Task Manager skill

Hands off daily task management once plan is created

Sprint Planner skill

Breaks project plan into sprint-sized chunks

Risk Assessor skill

Identifies and tracks project risks during planning Template Outputs PROJECT_PLAN.md Structure

[Project Name] - Project Plan

Concept Lock (Stage 1) ** One-liner: ** [Problem statement and target user]

Scope Fence (Stage 2) ** V1 Features: ** 1. Feature 1 2. Feature 2 3. Feature 3 ** Not Yet List: ** - Future feature 1 - Future feature 2

Timeline [Gantt-style breakdown with dates and dependencies]

Resources [Team allocation and budget]

Risks [Top 5 risks and mitigation strategies]

Success Criteria [How we know we're done and it worked] Estimation Guidelines Project Size Duration Team Size Complexity Micro (POC) 1-2 weeks 1-2 people Low Small (MVP) 1-2 months 2-4 people Medium Medium (Product) 3-6 months 4-8 people Medium-High Large (Platform) 6-12 months 8+ people High Adjustment factors: New tech stack: +30% time Unclear requirements: +50% time External dependencies: +20% time per dependency Junior team: +40% time Regulatory compliance: +25% time