Implementation Planning Skill

Guidelines for creating effective implementation plans.

When to Use Planning

Plan When

• •Feature spans multiple files/components
• •Architecture decisions needed
• •Multiple valid approaches exist
• •Dependencies need coordination
• •Risk of rework is high

Skip Planning When

• •Single file change
• •Bug fix with clear solution
• •Following existing pattern exactly
• •Simple CRUD operation

Planning Phases

1. Requirements Clarification

• •What exactly needs to be built?
• •What are the acceptance criteria?
• •What constraints exist? (performance, security, compatibility)
• •Is TDD expected?

2. Codebase Analysis

• •Explore existing structure
• •Find similar implementations
• •Identify patterns and conventions
• •Map dependencies

3. Solution Design

• •Break into logical phases
• •Order by dependencies
• •Define atomic tasks
• •Add verification steps

4. Documentation

• •Save structured plan
• •Include specific file paths
• •Add verification commands

Plan File Location

.claude/plans/{YYYYMMDD}-{HHMMSS}-{slug}.md

Analysis Strategies

Standard Analysis

1. •Read CLAUDE.md for conventions
2. •Use Grep/Glob to find similar code
3. •Read key files to understand patterns
4. •Map where new code should live

Serena-Enhanced Analysis

1. •get_symbols_overview() - file structure
2. •find_symbol() - locate classes/functions
3. •find_referencing_symbols() - dependency mapping
4. •read_memory() - project knowledge

Task Granularity

Good task:

### Task 1.1: Create User Model
- **File**: app/Models/User.php
- **Action**: Create
- **Verification**: `php artisan tinker` → `new User()` works

Too vague:

### Task 1.1: Set up user system
- **Action**: Create everything for users

Verification Types

Reference

For detailed plan format, see references/plan-format.md.