Plan Interview Skill

Transform rough plans into comprehensive, implementation-ready specifications through adaptive, structured interviews.

When to Use

• Converting a plan or idea into a detailed specification
• Gathering requirements through structured questioning
• Transforming rough documentation into implementation-ready specs
• Ensuring all edge cases, risks, and stakeholders are considered before implementation

Available Components

Command:

/plan-interview:interview [plan-file]

Adaptive interview that calibrates depth based on plan complexity:

Complexity	Signals	Questions
Simple	Single feature, clear scope	10-15
Moderate	Multi-component, some integrations	18-23
Complex	Cross-system, many stakeholders	22-28

Usage:

/plan-interview:interview docs/feature-plan.md
# Output: docs/feature-plan-spec.md

Agent:

spec-reviewer

Autonomous quality analysis of specifications across 4 dimensions:

• Completeness (25 pts) - All sections populated?
• Consistency (25 pts) - No contradictions?
• Clarity (25 pts) - No ambiguous language?
• Edge Cases (25 pts) - Error handling defined?

Triggers when you say "review my spec" or "check specification quality".

Interview Phases

1. Foundations & Scope - Stakeholders, success criteria, constraints, MVP scope
2. Technical Deep-Dive - Architecture, data models, scalability, security
3. User Experience - Personas, flows, cognitive load, error recovery
4. Risks & Tradeoffs - Risk categorization, blast radius, contingency plans
5. Operationalization - Testing, deployment, monitoring
6. Wrap-Up (optional) - Only for complex plans with remaining gaps

Interview Philosophy

Core Principle: Depth over breadth. Better to deeply understand critical aspects than superficially cover everything.

Key Techniques:

• Non-obvious questions - Skip what the plan already answers
• Edge probing - What happens in unusual cases?
• Assumption surfacing - Make implicit beliefs explicit
• Contradiction detection - Flag when answers don't align
• Adaptive depth - Probe deeper on complex areas, move faster on clear ones

Spec Output Structure

Generated specs include:

• Overview (problem, solution, success criteria, stakeholders)
• Functional and non-functional requirements
• Technical design (architecture, data models, APIs, security)
• User experience (personas, flows, states, edge cases)
• Risks and mitigations (risk register, tradeoffs, contingency plans)
• Implementation notes (key decisions, dependencies, migration)
• Operationalization (testing, deployment, monitoring)
• Open questions and out-of-scope items
• Phasing (MVP vs future)

References

Load these for deeper guidance during interviews:

• references/phase-1-clarifications.md

  - Foundations questions and pitfalls

• references/phase-2-technical.md

  - Architecture discussion patterns

• references/phase-3-ux.md

  - Persona development, UX patterns

• references/phase-4-risks.md

  - Risk assessment frameworks

• references/interview-techniques.md

  - Cross-cutting interview skills

• references/example-spec.md

  - Annotated high-quality spec example