Work Units

Work Units

Turn the active source of truth into thin, independently provable end-to-end slices. A tracer bullet crosses the layers needed to prove one observable behavior instead of completing one technical layer at a time.

• Ground: Treat an approved PRD or specification as product authority when present. Use the conversation, active planning file, docs, code, and tests to make units executable without reopening settled direction.
• Reconcile: Clear completed units only when durable evidence records them. Preserve or resolve uncommitted and ambiguous work before rewriting the active plan.
• Slice: Plan only the next coherent tranche, not the entire backlog. Avoid horizontal infrastructure slices unless they are independently valuable and provable.
• Sequence: Resolve risk and build end-to-end confidence early. An evidence-only unit is valid when it ends in concrete evidence or a decision.
• Simplify: Minimize each unit's surface area, not the number of units. Split bundled behaviors and prefer existing modules, ownership seams, and product paths.
• Classify: Mark each unit Autonomous or User review. Autonomous units contain no unresolved user decision. User-review units name the exact decision or walkthrough and the evidence the user will review.
• Record: Preserve the repository's existing planning format. Keep the active plan focused on current and upcoming work rather than completed history.

Stop detailed decomposition at a material user decision when its outcome could reshape later work.

Work Unit Contract

TB1: Short outcome

• Status: Planned
• Type: Autonomous or User review
• Outcome: The behavior or uncertainty this unit resolves
• Path: The relevant components or ownership boundaries
• Acceptance: Observable criteria
• Proof: Tests, artifacts, product walkthrough, or other evidence
• Depends on: Prior unit, decision, or None

If no local planning format exists, create a short active-work section with governing sources and decisions followed by units using this contract.