Plan Hardening

Overview

Systematically validate a draft design until convergence (0 must-fix, 0 should-fix). Creates temporary tracker file during hardening; at finalization, all content migrates to main doc and tracker is deleted.

Entry: Brainstorming produced a draft design document Exit: Convergence achieved, tracker content merged to main doc, tracker deleted

When to Use

dot

digraph when_to_use {
    "Design document exists?" [shape=diamond];
    "Still discovering requirements?" [shape=diamond];
    "Finding new issues each review?" [shape=diamond];
    "Use brainstorming" [shape=box];
    "Use plan-hardening" [shape=box];
    "Ready for writing-plans" [shape=box];

    "Design document exists?" -> "Use brainstorming" [label="no"];
    "Design document exists?" -> "Still discovering requirements?" [label="yes"];
    "Still discovering requirements?" -> "Use brainstorming" [label="yes"];
    "Still discovering requirements?" -> "Finding new issues each review?" [label="no"];
    "Finding new issues each review?" -> "Use plan-hardening" [label="yes"];
    "Finding new issues each review?" -> "Ready for writing-plans" [label="no"];
}

Auto-trigger symptoms:

•"Ready to finish?" feels premature
•Each review finds new problems
•Issues lost in conversation/compaction
•User micromanaging review process
•Brainstorming loops without progress

Review Categories

Core (Always - 10)

#	Category	Focus
1	Gaps	Missing pieces, undefined behaviors, incomplete flows
2	Edge Cases	Boundary conditions, failure modes, error scenarios
3	Duplication	Code/data redundancy, maintainability concerns
4	Defensive Design	Optimistic assumptions, insufficient error handling
5	Resource Awareness	Memory, cost, quotas, limits, scalability
6	Impact Analysis	Existing features, models, tests, external dependencies
7	Best Practices	Market solutions, alternatives, code clarity, maintainability
8	Documentation	Inline docs needed, .md file consistency, stale context
9	Testing	E2E, integration, unit per project standards
10	Observability	Logging strategy, error tracking, debugging support

Optional (Context-Dependent - 8)

#	Category	When to Include
11	Security	Auth, permissions, user data, input validation, compliance
12	UX Best Practices	Frontend-heavy plans (includes i18n, accessibility)
13	Migration	Production-deployed features, data/schema/API changes
14	API Design	Building/modifying APIs (versioning, conventions, pagination)
15	Concurrency	Multi-threaded code, concurrent access, race conditions
16	Third-Party Integrations	External service dependencies (fallbacks, retries, circuits)
17	Caching Strategy	Systems with caching layers (invalidation, TTL, stale data)
18	Performance / Benchmarking	Performance-critical features (load testing, bottlenecks)

At round start: Detect context, include relevant optional categories.

Smart Category Dispatch

dot

digraph dispatch {
    "Initial round" [shape=box];
    "All categories dirty" [shape=box];
    "Dispatch dirty categories" [shape=box];
    "Category found issues?" [shape=diamond];
    "Mark passed" [shape=box];
    "Keep dirty" [shape=box];
    "Plan changed?" [shape=diamond];
    "All categories -> dirty" [shape=box];
    "Convergence?" [shape=diamond];
    "Final pass (all categories)" [shape=box];

    "Initial round" -> "All categories dirty";
    "All categories dirty" -> "Dispatch dirty categories";
    "Dispatch dirty categories" -> "Category found issues?";
    "Category found issues?" -> "Mark passed" [label="no"];
    "Category found issues?" -> "Keep dirty" [label="yes"];
    "Mark passed" -> "Plan changed?";
    "Keep dirty" -> "Plan changed?";
    "Plan changed?" -> "All categories -> dirty" [label="yes"];
    "Plan changed?" -> "Convergence?" [label="no"];
    "All categories -> dirty" -> "Dispatch dirty categories";
    "Convergence?" -> "Final pass (all categories)" [label="yes"];
    "Convergence?" -> "Dispatch dirty categories" [label="no"];
}

Token optimization: Categories with 0 findings marked passed, skip subsequent rounds unless plan changes.

Issue Tracker

Create docs/plans/{plan-name}-tracker.md alongside design document:

markdown

## Category Status
| Category | State | Last Run | Findings |
|----------|-------|----------|----------|

## Open Issues
| ID | Severity | Category | Description | Status |

## Resolved
| ID | Severity | Category | Description | Resolution |

## Won't Do
| ID | Severity | Category | Description | Rationale |

## Deferred
| ID | Severity | Category | Description | Why Deferred |

## Future Work
| ID | Category | Description | Prerequisites |

Tracker is temporary scaffolding. At finalization: content migrates to main doc, tracker file deleted.

Rules:

•Every issue gets a decision (no orphans)
•won't_do requires documented rationale
•deferred requires documented reason
•future requires prerequisites
•Critical/important "won't do" → contest with arguments first, then document if user confirms

Issue Severity

Severity	Meaning	Gate
must-fix	Blocks implementation	Must be 0 to converge
should-fix	Important but not blocking	Must be 0 to converge
nice-to-have	Improvement opportunity	Move to Future Work

Convergence Protocol

Round	Expected
1	Many issues (normal)
2	Fewer (root causes fixed)
3	Should be clean
3+ with must/should-fix	Design flaw, revisit architecture

Convergence = Round with 0 new must-fix AND 0 new should-fix

Pre-Finalization Ritual

Before writing final document version:

•
Memory Sweep - Review full conversation, compaction summary, look for leftover definitions, unsolved questions
•
Tracker Audit - Verify 0 open issues, all won't_do/deferred/future have required fields
•
Document Completeness - Has all required sections including Future Work, Deferred, Won't Do, Key Decisions?
•
Final Agent Pass - All categories (core + applicable optional), must find 0 must-fix/should-fix
•
Finalization Mindset - Internal state: "Session closes after commit, everything not written is lost forever"
•
Merge & Delete Tracker - Move all tracker content to main doc sections, delete tracker file

Document Sections (Final)

markdown

# [Feature] - Design Document
## Status: FINAL
## Problem Statement
## Data Model
## Implementation Flow
## Edge Cases
## Testing Plan
## Files to Change
## Key Decisions Made (with rationale)
## Deferred (with reasons)
## Future Work (with prerequisites)
## Out of Scope / Won't Do (with rationale)

Anti-Patterns Blocked

Behavior	Block
"Ready to finish?" before convergence	Gate: 0 must-fix, 0 should-fix
Lost issues	Persistent tracker during hardening
Ad-hoc agent dispatch	Defined category set
Undocumented "won't do"	Required rationale field
Discarded nice-to-haves	Must go to Future Work
Re-raising resolved issues	In tracker/doc with resolution
Rushing to code	Pre-finalization ritual enforced
Orphan tracker file	Deleted at finalization

Red Flags - STOP

•Wanting to skip categories "this time"
•Marking must-fix as nice-to-have to converge faster
•"We discussed this already" without tracker entry
•Finalizing with open issues
•User says "won't do" on critical without contest + documented rationale
•Leaving tracker file after finalization