Project Management

Project Management Skill

Alex project management: rapid iteration, meditation-based retrospectives, session-based work, and safety-first release gates.

Our Management Philosophy

Based on actual project history (v3.6.0 → v4.2.5 in ~6 days vs months planned):

The Alex Work Cycle

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    WORK SESSION                             │
│  Focus → Build → Test → Ship → Repeat until natural pause   │
└──────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────┘
                           │
                           ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    MEDITATION                               │
│  Reflect → Connect → Persist → Integrate                    │
│  Creates: .prompt.md, .instructions.md, skill updates       │
└──────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────┘
                           │
                           ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    CONSOLIDATION                            │
│  Update roadmap → Global knowledge → Dream maintenance      │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Session Types

When to Meditate

• After completing a feature or bug fix
• Before ending a work day
• After learning something significant
• When insights are accumulating uncommitted
• After a crisis or recovery

📋 Planning Document Standards

Task Lists First (MANDATORY)

All planning documents MUST have task lists at the top (after title/metadata).

Why:

• Immediate visibility into what needs doing
• Quick status check without scrolling
• Aligns with how Alex and humans scan documents

Required Structure

# [Document Title]

> Metadata (created, owner, status)

---

## 📋 Task List (Quick Reference)

[Remaining tasks with status, dual effort columns]

[Progress summary table]

---

## [Rest of document...]

Alex Effort Estimation

Always use dual-column effort estimates:

Effort units:

• ⚡ Instant (<5m)
• 🔄 Short (5-30m)
• ⏱️ Medium (30-60m)
• 📦 Session (1-2h)
• 🗓️ Multi-session (2h+)

See alex-effort-estimation skill for methodology.

Roadmap Management

Living Document Pattern

Our roadmap is a living document, not a frozen spec.

Unified Roadmap (Imperative I6)

"One platform, one roadmap. Separate roadmaps caused Phoenix chaos."

• A unified roadmap is the single source of truth for any project
• Detailed plans feed INTO the roadmap, not alongside it
• Never maintain parallel task lists

Release Process

Pre-Release Gates (Non-Negotiable)

See release-process.instructions.md for full protocol.

If User Says "Just Publish"

"I understand the urgency, but our release process exists to prevent issues that have bitten us before. Let me quickly run through the critical items - it'll only take 2 minutes and could save hours of rollback pain."

Safety Imperatives (From Phoenix Recovery)

Chronicle Pattern

For significant events (crises, major releases, architecture changes), create a Chronicle:

# Chronicle: [Event Title]

**Date**: YYYY-MM-DD
**Status**: Living document

## The Setup: What Happened
## The Crisis/Challenge  
## The Solution
## Lessons Learned

Example: chronicle-2026-01-30-phoenix-to-dawn.md

Velocity Tracking

Track Acceleration Factor

Use this data to calibrate future estimates.

Anti-Patterns

❌ Don't estimate in human hours only - Always include Alex estimate
❌ Don't skip meditation - Unconsolidated knowledge is lost
❌ Don't maintain parallel task lists - Single source of truth
❌ Don't push without gates - Release process exists for reasons
❌ Don't test in Master Alex - Use Sandbox (Imperative I1)

Traditional Approaches (Reference)

For enterprise contexts requiring formal PM:

PMBOK Process Groups

Agile Elements We Use

When to Use Traditional PM

• Enterprise projects with external stakeholders
• Regulated environments requiring documentation
• Multi-team coordination with formal handoffs
• Fixed-bid contracts with milestone payments