| name | decompose-epic |
| description | Break a large initiative into sequenced, independently-shippable tickets and milestones. Use when: decomposing an epic, breaking down a large project, planning a multi-ticket initiative, sequencing work across milestones. |
| argument-hint | An initiative description or a parent Jira ticket key (e.g. DT-1234) |
Decompose Epic
Turn a large initiative into a sequenced set of discrete, independently-shippable tickets. This is the altitude above plan-work — it produces the tickets; plan-work/start-work then plan each one.
Step 1: Establish the goal and scope
- If a parent Jira ticket is provided, follow the
jira-read-ticket skill to pull its intent and scope.
- Otherwise use the user's description. If the desired end state is unclear, ask before decomposing.
State the initiative's goal and what "done" looks like in one paragraph.
Step 2: Identify workstreams and dependencies
Explore the codebase enough to ground the breakdown in reality. Then:
- Group the work into workstreams (e.g. data model, API, UI, migration, rollout)
- Map dependencies between them — what must land before what
- Identify the critical path
Step 3: Propose tickets
Break each workstream into tickets that are independently shippable and small enough to fit a few days. For each:
- <Proposed title>
Scope: one-line description of what it delivers.
Size: S / M / L (rough).
Depends on: <other ticket(s)>, or "none".
Prefer vertical slices that deliver value over horizontal layers that don't ship alone.
Step 4: Sequence into milestones
Order the tickets into milestones along the critical path. Output:
- A milestone-ordered list of the tickets
- A short dependency/sequencing note calling out anything that can be parallelized
- Risks or unknowns that should be spiked before committing to estimates
Ticket creation in Jira is out of scope — this produces the plan. Mention creating the tickets as the manual follow-up.
