Generate Change Impact

Skill: generate-change-impact

Generates a change impact assessment for Phase 4 — Development (task #21). PM describes the change request; the agent classifies it, analyzes impact on timeline and budget, calculates deltas and risk level. Output: change-impact-{id}.xlsx. Mode B: agent prepares draft, PM makes the decision.

Triggers

Russian: «запрос на изменение скоупа», «оценка изменения», «влияние изменения на проект», «изменение скоупа», «CR по проекту», «оцени изменение», «изменение требований», «корректировка скоупа» English: "scope change request", "change impact assessment", "generate change impact", "change request analysis", "evaluate scope change", "change order impact"

Language Detection

Determine the language of the user's request:

• If the request is in Russian → use templates with -ru suffix, respond in Russian
• Otherwise → use templates with -en suffix, respond in English

Input

Output

File structure — 2 sheets (Summary, Impact Detail) — defined in templates/change-impact-{lang}.md.

Instructions

Step 1 — Validate Request

Guard-rail — check request type. If the request concerns general change management (methodology, processes) or does not describe a specific scope change → respond: "generate-change-impact assesses the impact of a specific scope change request. Describe the specific change: what needs to change, the rationale, and the expected impact. The skill will produce a structured assessment for decision-making." Do not start the workflow.

If the request contains a description of a specific change → proceed to Step 2.

Step 2 — Collect Change Request Data

Extract from chat:

• Change description — what is changing (functionality, technology, scope of work)
• Rationale — why the change is needed
• ID — if PM provided one (CR-001, CR-002, etc.)
• Requester — who initiated the change (client, team, PM, external factor)

If the change involves replacing a technology, architecture, or platform (keywords: "rewrite", "replace platform", "migrate to", "entire [component]"): Ask a clarifying question before proceeding to Step 3: "To calculate impact accurately, please clarify:

1. Does the change affect the entire [component] or only part of it?
2. Is the work planned in parallel with current sprint tasks or sequentially (after the current sprint)?" Do not proceed to Step 3 without an answer.

If the description is insufficient: Ask: "Please describe the change in more detail:

1. What exactly is changing in scope (features, requirements, scope of work)?
2. Why is this change needed?
3. Are there any known deadline or budget constraints for this change?"

If no ID is provided: assign the next in sequence (find the last CR-XXX in 04-development/ or start with CR-001). Notify PM: "Request assigned ID: CR-001."

Change category classification: Based on the description, determine the category:

• scope — adding or removing functionality or requirements
• budget — change in funding without altering functionality
• timeline — deadline shift without changing scope or budget
• resource — replacing, adding, or removing team members

If the change affects multiple categories — assign a primary one, list the rest as secondary.

Step 3 — Read Project Data

Read project files for impact analysis:

• 02-planning/project-plan.md — current deadlines, tasks, milestones
• 02-planning/project-budget.xlsx — budget items and approved amounts

If files are unavailable or not found: Ask PM a clarifying question: "Files project-plan.md / project-budget.xlsx not found. For a more accurate assessment, please provide:

1. Approximate project completion date?
2. Approved budget (approximate amount)?
3. Dates of the nearest key milestones (if known)? If this data is not available — I will generate the assessment based on the change description only." Use the answers in the Step 4 analysis. Mark the data source in the artifact: "data provided by PM (files not loaded)" or "estimate — no project files".

Step 4 — Impact Analysis

Analyze across four dimensions. Record each value with an explicit data source (from file or agent estimate based on PM description).

4.1 Timeline Impact

• Identify affected tasks and milestones from project-plan.md
• Calculate the shift in working days for each affected task
• Determine the total shift of the final deadline (if applicable)
• Identify critical path: does the change shift the project completion date?

4.2 Budget Impact

• Identify affected budget items from project-budget.xlsx
• Estimate the delta in monetary terms (absolute and %)
• If budget data is unavailable — mark as "to be confirmed by PM"

4.3 Resource Impact

• Determine whether additional or different team members are required
• Specify roles and time volume (if applicable)

4.4 Risk Level and Overall Impact Level Determine the impact level using the matrix:

Record the final level: Low / Medium / High.

Step 5 — Confirm Data with PM

Show PM a brief impact summary in chat before generating the file:

CR-001 — [change title]
Category: [scope/budget/timeline/resource]
Timeline impact: [+X working days / "no impact"]
Budget impact: [+X / ±0 / "to be confirmed"]
Impact level: [Low/Medium/High]

Ask: "Is this data correct? Confirm or correct — I will generate the file."

Do not create the file until PM confirms.

Step 6 — Create xlsx and Save

Follow the schema from templates/change-impact-{lang}.md.

1. Use the xlsx skill to create change-impact-{id}.xlsx.
2. Save to {project}/04-development/change-impact-{id}.xlsx.
3. Output in chat:
   • Confirmation: "File saved: 04-development/change-impact-{id}.xlsx"
   • Sheet 1 Summary as a Markdown table (key blocks only)
   • Question: "Assessment ready. Your decision: Approved / Rejected / Postponed? Add a comment if needed."
4. Do not make the decision for PM — this is always the human's call.

Step 7 — Record Decision

After PM responds:

1. Record the decision (Approved / Rejected / Postponed + date + comment) in the "PM Decision Block" of the file (if xlsx is edited) or save separately in logs/log.md.
2. Update project-state.md: artifact change-impact-{id}.xlsx → "approved".
3. Write to logs/log.md: date, CR-ID, category, impact level, decision.
4. If decision is Approved → notify PM: "Change approved. To update the project plan, run generate-project-plan (task #7) using data from CR-{id}: [task shifts and budget delta]."

Templates

Dependencies

Reads:

• Change description from chat (required)
• 02-planning/project-plan.md — deadlines and tasks (optional)
• 02-planning/project-budget.xlsx — budget items (optional)

Passes data to:

• 04-development/change-impact-{id}.xlsx → generate-project-plan (#7) — on change approval, to update the project plan

Calls:

• xlsx skill — to create the .xlsx file

Constraints

• Mode B: assessment is a draft for PM; approval decision is always made by the human
• One CR per invocation; for multiple CRs — run the skill separately for each
• If project-plan.md and project-budget.xlsx are unavailable — analysis is based on PM data, marked "estimate — no project files"
• Does not modify project-plan.md directly — only recommends running generate-project-plan after approval
• Does not create Jira tasks — use coordinate-executors for that
• Category classification is automatic based on description; PM can correct it at Step 5