# Work Units

> Turn a PRD, specification, active plan, or implementation proposal into an ordered set of independently provable tracer-bullet work units. Use when the user asks for implementation slices, autonomous and user-review boundaries, or a plan ready for execution.

- Skill: `clairem0/work-units` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add clairem0/work-units`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/clairem0/work-units/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Product & Planning
- Author: clairem0 (https://skillmd.com/u/clairem0)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/clairem0/work-units

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# 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.