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

Phase	LOW	MEDIUM	HIGH
EXPLORE	5min	15min	30min
DESIGN	5min	30min	60min
IMPLEMENT	varies	varies	varies
REFINE	5min	15min	30min
DELIVER	2min	5min	10min

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