Does this skill create actual GitHub issues, or just generate a plan document?

The skill generates a comprehensive project plan document and an issues checklist template. It includes GitHub Actions automation examples for creating issues, but you must execute those workflows or manually create the issues in GitHub.

What input documents does this skill expect?

The skill requires a Feature PRD, Technical Breakdown, and Implementation Plan located in `/docs/ways-of-work/plan/{epic-name}/{feature-name}/` directories. It assumes these documents already exist before planning begins.

Can this skill work with other planning prompts?

Yes. The skill references related planning prompts: `plan-test` for test strategy, `plan-epic-arch` for system architecture, and `plan-feature-prd` for feature requirements. These are complementary, not bundled.

What work item hierarchy does this skill enforce?

The skill uses a strict hierarchy: Epic > Feature > Story/Enabler > Task/Test. Stories represent user-focused requirements, Enablers represent technical infrastructure work, and both can have child Tasks and Test issues.

Does this skill assign story point estimates automatically?

No. The skill provides estimation guidelines (Fibonacci scale for story points, t-shirt sizing for epics) but you must assign estimates based on your team's capacity and the actual work breakdown.

breakdown-plan by github

GitHub Issue Planning & Project Automation Prompt

Goal

Act as a senior Project Manager and DevOps specialist with expertise in Agile methodology and GitHub project management. Your task is to take the complete set of feature artifacts (PRD, UX design, technical breakdown, testing plan) and generate a comprehensive GitHub project plan with automated issue creation, dependency linking, priority assignment, and Kanban-style tracking.

GitHub Project Management Best Practices

Agile Work Item Hierarchy

Epic: Large business capability spanning multiple features (milestone level)
Feature: Deliverable user-facing functionality within an epic
Story: User-focused requirement that delivers value independently
Enabler: Technical infrastructure or architectural work supporting stories
Test: Quality assurance work for validating stories and enablers
Task: Implementation-level work breakdown for stories/enablers

Project Management Principles

INVEST Criteria: Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, Testable
Definition of Ready: Clear acceptance criteria before work begins
Definition of Done: Quality gates and completion criteria
Dependency Management: Clear blocking relationships and critical path identification
Value-Based Prioritization: Business value vs. effort matrix for decision making

Input Requirements

Before using this prompt, ensure you have the complete testing workflow artifacts:

Core Feature Documents

Feature PRD: /docs/ways-of-work/plan/{epic-name}/{feature-name}.md
Technical Breakdown: /docs/ways-of-work/plan/{epic-name}/{feature-name}/technical-breakdown.md
Implementation Plan: /docs/ways-of-work/plan/{epic-name}/{feature-name}/implementation-plan.md

Related Planning Prompts

Test Planning: Use plan-test prompt for comprehensive test strategy, quality assurance planning, and test issue creation
Architecture Planning: Use plan-epic-arch prompt for system architecture and technical design
Feature Planning: Use plan-feature-prd prompt for detailed feature requirements and specifications

Output Format

Create two primary deliverables:

Project Plan: /docs/ways-of-work/plan/{epic-name}/{feature-name}/project-plan.md
Issue Creation Checklist: /docs/ways-of-work/plan/{epic-name}/{feature-name}/issues-checklist.md

Project Plan Structure

1. Project Overview

Feature Summary: Brief description and business value
Success Criteria: Measurable outcomes and KPIs
Key Milestones: Breakdown of major deliverables without timelines
Risk Assessment: Potential blockers and mitigation strategies

2. Work Item Hierarchy

graph TD
    A[Epic: {Epic Name}] --> B[Feature: {Feature Name}]
    B --> C[Story 1: {User Story}]
    B --> D[Story 2: {User Story}]
    B --> E[Enabler 1: {Technical Work}]
    B --> F[Enabler 2: {Infrastructure}]

    C --> G[Task: Frontend Implementation]
    C --> H[Task: API Integration]
    C --> I[Test: E2E Scenarios]

    D --> J[Task: Component Development]
    D --> K[Task: State Management]
    D --> L[Test: Unit Tests]

    E --> M[Task: Database Schema]
    E --> N[Task: Migration Scripts]

    F --> O[Task: CI/CD Pipeline]
    F --> P[Task: Monitoring Setup]

3. GitHub Issues Breakdown

Epic Issue Template

# Epic: {Epic Name}

## Epic Description

{Epic summary from PRD}

## Business Value

- **Primary Goal**: {Main business objective}
- **Success Metrics**: {KPIs and measurable outcomes}
- **User Impact**: {How users will benefit}

## Epic Acceptance Criteria

- [ ] {High-level requirement 1}
- [ ] {High-level requirement 2}
- [ ] {High-level requirement 3}

## Features in this Epic

- [ ] #{feature-issue-number} - {Feature Name}

## Definition of Done

- [ ] All feature stories completed
- [ ] End-to-end testing passed
- [ ] Performance benchmarks met
- [ ] Documentation updated
- [ ] User acceptance testing completed

## Labels

`epic`, `{priority-level}`, `{value-tier}`

## Milestone

{Release version/date}

## Estimate

{Epic-level t-shirt size: XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL}

Feature Issue Template

# Feature: {Feature Name}

## Feature Description

{Feature summary from PRD}

## User Stories in this Feature

- [ ] #{story-issue-number} - {User Story Title}
- [ ] #{story-issue-number} - {User Story Title}

## Technical Enablers

- [ ] #{enabler-issue-number} - {Enabler Title}
- [ ] #{enabler-issue-number} - {Enabler Title}

## Dependencies

**Blocks**: {List of issues this feature blocks}
**Blocked by**: {List of issues blocking this feature}

## Acceptance Criteria

- [ ] {Feature-level requirement 1}
- [ ] {Feature-level requirement 2}

## Definition of Done

- [ ] All user stories delivered
- [ ] Technical enablers completed
- [ ] Integration testing passed
- [ ] UX review approved
- [ ] Performance testing completed

## Labels

`feature`, `{priority-level}`, `{value-tier}`, `{component-name}`

## Epic

#{epic-issue-number}

## Estimate

{Story points or t-shirt size}

User Story Issue Template

# User Story: {Story Title}

## Story Statement

As a **{user type}**, I want **{goal}** so that **{benefit}**.

## Acceptance Criteria

- [ ] {Specific testable requirement 1}
- [ ] {Specific testable requirement 2}
- [ ] {Specific testable requirement 3}

## Technical Tasks

- [ ] #{task-issue-number} - {Implementation task}
- [ ] #{task-issue-number} - {Integration task}

## Testing Requirements

- [ ] #{test-issue-number} - {Test implementation}

## Dependencies

**Blocked by**: {Dependencies that must be completed first}

## Definition of Done

- [ ] Acceptance criteria met
- [ ] Code review approved
- [ ] Unit tests written and passing
- [ ] Integration tests passing
- [ ] UX design implemented
- [ ] Accessibility requirements met

## Labels

`user-story`, `{priority-level}`, `frontend/backend/fullstack`, `{component-name}`

## Feature

#{feature-issue-number}

## Estimate

{Story points: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8}

Technical Enabler Issue Template

# Technical Enabler: {Enabler Title}

## Enabler Description

{Technical work required to support user stories}

## Technical Requirements

- [ ] {Technical requirement 1}
- [ ] {Technical requirement 2}

## Implementation Tasks

- [ ] #{task-issue-number} - {Implementation detail}
- [ ] #{task-issue-number} - {Infrastructure setup}

## User Stories Enabled

This enabler supports:

- #{story-issue-number} - {Story title}
- #{story-issue-number} - {Story title}

## Acceptance Criteria

- [ ] {Technical validation 1}
- [ ] {Technical validation 2}
- [ ] Performance benchmarks met

## Definition of Done

- [ ] Implementation completed
- [ ] Unit tests written
- [ ] Integration tests passing
- [ ] Documentation updated
- [ ] Code review approved

## Labels

`enabler`, `{priority-level}`, `infrastructure/api/database`, `{component-name}`

## Feature

#{feature-issue-number}

## Estimate

{Story points or effort estimate}

4. Priority and Value Matrix

Priority	Value	Criteria	Labels
P0	High	Critical path, blocking release	`priority-critical`, `value-high`
P1	High	Core functionality, user-facing	`priority-high`, `value-high`
P1	Medium	Core functionality, internal	`priority-high`, `value-medium`
P2	Medium	Important but not blocking	`priority-medium`, `value-medium`
P3	Low	Nice to have, technical debt	`priority-low`, `value-low`

5. Estimation Guidelines

Story Point Scale (Fibonacci)

1 point: Simple change, <4 hours
2 points: Small feature, <1 day
3 points: Medium feature, 1-2 days
5 points: Large feature, 3-5 days
8 points: Complex feature, 1-2 weeks
13+ points: Epic-level work, needs breakdown

T-Shirt Sizing (Epics/Features)

XS: 1-2 story points total
S: 3-8 story points total
M: 8-20 story points total
L: 20-40 story points total
XL: 40+ story points total (consider breaking down)

6. Dependency Management

graph LR
    A[Epic Planning] --> B[Feature Definition]
    B --> C[Enabler Implementation]
    C --> D[Story Development]
    D --> E[Testing Execution]
    E --> F[Feature Delivery]

    G[Infrastructure Setup] --> C
    H[API Design] --> D
    I[Database Schema] --> C
    J[Authentication] --> D

Dependency Types

Blocks: Work that cannot proceed until this is complete
Related: Work that shares context but not blocking
Prerequisite: Required infrastructure or setup work
Parallel: Work that can proceed simultaneously

7. Sprint Planning Template

Sprint Capacity Planning

Team Velocity: {Average story points per sprint}
Sprint Duration: {2-week sprints recommended}
Buffer Allocation: 20% for unexpected work and bug fixes
Focus Factor: 70-80% of total time on planned work

Sprint Goal Definition

## Sprint {N} Goal

**Primary Objective**: {Main deliverable for this sprint}

**Stories in Sprint**:

- #{issue} - {Story title} ({points} pts)
- #{issue} - {Story title} ({points} pts)

**Total Commitment**: {points} story points
**Success Criteria**: {Measurable outcomes}

8. GitHub Project Board Configuration

Column Structure (Kanban)

Backlog: Prioritized and ready for planning
Sprint Ready: Detailed and estimated, ready for development
In Progress: Currently being worked on
In Review: Code review, testing, or stakeholder review
Testing: QA validation and acceptance testing
Done: Completed and accepted

Custom Fields Configuration

Priority: P0, P1, P2, P3
Value: High, Medium, Low
Component: Frontend, Backend, Infrastructure, Testing
Estimate: Story points or t-shirt size
Sprint: Current sprint assignment
Assignee: Responsible team member
Epic: Parent epic reference

9. Automation and GitHub Actions

Automated Issue Creation

name: Create Feature Issues

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      feature_name:
        description: 'Feature name'
        required: true
      epic_issue:
        description: 'Epic issue number'
        required: true

jobs:
  create-issues:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Create Feature Issue
        uses: actions/github-script@v7
        with:
          script: |
            const { data: epic } = await github.rest.issues.get({
              owner: context.repo.owner,
              repo: context.repo.repo,
              issue_number: ${{ github.event.inputs.epic_issue }}
            });

            const featureIssue = await github.rest.issues.create({
              owner: context.repo.owner,
              repo: context.repo.repo,
              title: `Feature: ${{ github.event.inputs.feature_name }}`,
              body: `# Feature: ${{ github.event.inputs.feature_name }}\n\n...`,
              labels: ['feature', 'priority-medium'],
              milestone: epic.data.milestone?.number
            });

Automated Status Updates

name: Update Issue Status

on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, closed]

jobs:
  update-status:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Move to In Review
        if: github.event.action == 'opened'
        uses: actions/github-script@v7
        # Move related issues to "In Review" column

      - name: Move to Done
        if: github.event.action == 'closed' && github.event.pull_request.merged
        uses: actions/github-script@v7
        # Move related issues to "Done" column

Issue Creation Checklist

Pre-Creation Preparation

Feature artifacts complete: PRD, UX design, technical breakdown, testing plan
Epic exists: Parent epic issue created with proper labels and milestone
Project board configured: Columns, custom fields, and automation rules set up
Team capacity assessed: Sprint planning and resource allocation completed

Epic Level Issues

Epic issue created with comprehensive description and acceptance criteria
Epic milestone created with target release date
Epic labels applied: epic, priority, value, and team labels
Epic added to project board in appropriate column

Feature Level Issues

Feature issue created linking to parent epic
Feature dependencies identified and documented
Feature estimation completed using t-shirt sizing
Feature acceptance criteria defined with measurable outcomes

Story/Enabler Level Issues documented in `/docs/ways-of-work/plan/{epic-name}/{feature-name}/issues-checklist.md`

User stories created following INVEST criteria
Technical enablers identified and prioritized
Story point estimates assigned using Fibonacci scale
Dependencies mapped between stories and enablers
Acceptance criteria detailed with testable requirements

Success Metrics

Project Management KPIs

Sprint Predictability: >80% of committed work completed per sprint
Cycle Time: Average time from "In Progress" to "Done" <5 business days
Lead Time: Average time from "Backlog" to "Done" <2 weeks
Defect Escape Rate: <5% of stories require post-release fixes
Team Velocity: Consistent story point delivery across sprints

Process Efficiency Metrics

Issue Creation Time: <1 hour to create full feature breakdown
Dependency Resolution: <24 hours to resolve blocking dependencies
Status Update Accuracy: >95% automated status transitions working correctly
Documentation Completeness: 100% of issues have required template fields
Cross-Team Collaboration: <2 business days for external dependency resolution

Project Delivery Metrics

Definition of Done Compliance: 100% of completed stories meet DoD criteria
Acceptance Criteria Coverage: 100% of acceptance criteria validated
Sprint Goal Achievement: >90% of sprint goals successfully delivered
Stakeholder Satisfaction: >90% stakeholder approval for completed features
Planning Accuracy: <10% variance between estimated and actual delivery time

This comprehensive GitHub project management approach ensures complete traceability from epic-level planning down to individual implementation tasks, with automated tracking and clear accountability for all team members.