Gen Specs As Issues

Product Manager Assistant: Feature Identification and Specification

This workflow guides you through a systematic approach to identify missing features, prioritize them, and create detailed specifications for implementation.

1. Project Understanding Phase

• Review the project structure to understand its organization
• Read the README.md and other documentation files to understand the project's core functionality
• Identify the existing implementation status by examining:
  • Main entry points (CLI, API, UI, etc.)
  • Core modules and their functionality
  • Tests to understand expected behavior
  • Any placeholder implementations

Guiding Questions:

• What is the primary purpose of this project?
• What user problems does it solve?
• What patterns exist in the current implementation?
• Which features are mentioned in documentation but not fully implemented?

2. Gap Analysis Phase

• Compare the documented capabilities ONLY against the actual implementation
• Identify "placeholder" code that lacks real functionality
• Look for features mentioned in documentation but missing robust implementation
• Consider the user journey and identify broken or missing steps
• Focus on core functionality first (not nice-to-have features)

Output Creation:

• Create a list of potential missing features (5-7 items)
• For each feature, note:
  • Current implementation status
  • References in documentation
  • Impact on user experience if missing

3. Prioritization Phase

• Apply a score to each identified gap:

Scoring Matrix (1-5 scale):

• User Impact: How many users benefit?
• Strategic Alignment: Fits core mission?
• Implementation Feasibility: Technical complexity?
• Resource Requirements: Development effort needed?
• Risk Level: Potential negative impacts?

Priority = (User Impact × Strategic Alignment) / (Implementation Effort × Risk Level)

Output Creation:

• Present the top 3 highest-priority missing features based on the scoring
• For each, provide:
  • Feature name
  • Current status
  • Impact if not implemented
  • Dependencies on other features

4. Specification Development Phase

• For each prioritized feature, develop a detailed but practical specification:
  • Begin with the philosophical approach: simplicity over complexity
  • Focus on MVP functionality first
  • Consider the developer experience
  • Keep the specification implementation-friendly

For Each Feature Specification:

1. Overview & Scope

   • What problem does it solve?
   • What's included and what's explicitly excluded?

2. Technical Requirements

   • Core functionality needed
   • User-facing interfaces (API, UI, CLI, etc.)
   • Integration points with existing code

3. Implementation Plan

   • Key modules/files to create or modify
   • Simple code examples showing the approach
   • Clear data structures and interfaces

4. Acceptance Criteria

   • How will we know when it's done?
   • What specific functionality must work?
   • What tests should pass?

5. GitHub Issue Creation Phase

• For each specification, create a GitHub issue:
  • Clear, descriptive title
  • Comprehensive specification in the body
  • Appropriate labels (enhancement, high-priority, etc.)
  • Explicitly mention MVP philosophy where relevant

Issue Template Structure:

[Feature Name]

Overview

[Brief description of the feature and its purpose]

Scope

[What's included and what's explicitly excluded]

Technical Requirements

[Specific technical needs and constraints]

Implementation Plan

[Step-by-step approach with simple code examples]

Acceptance Criteria

[Clear list of requirements to consider the feature complete]

Priority

[Justification for prioritization]

Dependencies

• Blocks: [List of issues blocked by this one]
• Blocked by: [List of issues this one depends on]

Implementation Size

• Estimated effort: [Small/Medium/Large]
• Sub-issues: [Links to sub-issues if this is a parent issue]

5.5 Work Distribution Optimization

• Independence Analysis

  • Review each specification to identify truly independent components
  • Refactor specifications to maximize independent work streams
  • Create clear boundaries between interdependent components

• Dependency Mapping

  • For features with unavoidable dependencies, establish clear issue hierarchies
  • Create parent issues for the overall feature with sub-issues for components
  • Explicitly document "blocked by" and "blocks" relationships

• Workload Balancing

  • Break down large specifications into smaller, manageable sub-issues
  • Ensure each sub-issue represents 1-3 days of development work
  • Include sub-issue specific acceptance criteria

Implementation Guidelines:

• Use GitHub issue linking syntax to create explicit relationships
• Add labels to indicate dependency status (e.g., "blocked", "prerequisite")
• Include estimated complexity/effort for each issue to aid sprint planning

6. Final Review Phase

• Summarize all created specifications
• Highlight implementation dependencies between features
• Suggest a logical implementation order
• Note any potential challenges or considerations

Remember throughout this process:

• Favor simplicity over complexity
• Start with minimal viable implementations that work
• Focus on developer experience
• Build a foundation that can be extended later
• Consider the open-source community and contribution model

This workflow embodiment of our approach should help maintain consistency in how features are specified and prioritized, ensuring that software projects evolve in a thoughtful, user-centered way.

Source: github/awesome-copilot → skills/gen-specs-as-issues/SKILL.md