Is it adhoc or you use more structured approaches like openspec? I also tend to work on a plan first, but it stays as in-session todo, which is hard to reference later.
It's ad hoc / my own framework, just found something which works for me. The exact structure is
- Work Mode - HITL/AFK
- Problem Statement
- Who It Affects - Primary / Secondary User
- User Stories
- Business Case
- Why Now
- Success Critera
- In Scope/Out of Scope [Out of Scope v. important)
- Thinnest Slice (This I've found super valuable, means you max out the amount of 'product' for your buck and avoid diminishing marginal returns or overbuilding. Often I will build this)
- Eigenfeature - What is the larger feature we _could_ (but probably won't) which would solve for this use case and other stuff I might not have thought of
- Technical Notes
- Deps
- Schema Changes
- Risks
- Final Recommendation [go / no go, including on scope]
There's a note in my Claude / Agents MD which says no net new feature gets introduced without this and I get it to move through a pipeline of folders (active, approved, shipped, proposed etc). All runs in a system of MD files and have even created a little MD Kanban from the metadata!
It's ad hoc / my own framework, just found something which works for me. The exact structure is
- Work Mode - HITL/AFK
- Problem Statement
- Who It Affects - Primary / Secondary User
- User Stories
- Business Case
- Why Now
- Success Critera
- In Scope/Out of Scope [Out of Scope v. important)
- Thinnest Slice (This I've found super valuable, means you max out the amount of 'product' for your buck and avoid diminishing marginal returns or overbuilding. Often I will build this)
- Eigenfeature - What is the larger feature we _could_ (but probably won't) which would solve for this use case and other stuff I might not have thought of
- Technical Notes
- Deps
- Schema Changes
- Risks
- Final Recommendation [go / no go, including on scope]
There's a note in my Claude / Agents MD which says no net new feature gets introduced without this and I get it to move through a pipeline of folders (active, approved, shipped, proposed etc). All runs in a system of MD files and have even created a little MD Kanban from the metadata!