Bmad Story Planning

Delivery Planning Skill

When to Invoke

Automatically activate when user:

• Says "Break into stories", "Create user stories"
• Asks "Developer tasks?", "Story breakdown?"
• Mentions "stories", "backlog", "sprint planning"
• Epics and architecture ready (Phase 4)
• Uses words like: story, stories, backlog, sprint, breakdown, tasks

Specific trigger phrases:

• "Break this into stories"
• "Create user stories"
• "Story breakdown for [epic]"
• "Developer-ready tasks"
• "Backlog planning"
• "Sprint stories"

Prerequisites:

• Epics exist (from bmad-product-planning)
• Architecture defined

Do NOT invoke when:

• No epics yet (use bmad-product-planning first)
• Stories already exist (use bmad-development-execution)
• Simple task that doesn't need story structure

Mission

Transform epics and architecture decisions into developer-ready story packages, including acceptance criteria, dependencies, and delivery signals.

Inputs Required

• epics: latest epics.md from product-requirements skill
• architecture: decision architecture outputs and guardrails
• ux_assets: annotated wireframes or UX notes when relevant
• sprint_status: current delivery cadence and capacity information

Outputs

• Story markdown files created using assets/story-template.md.template
• Updated backlog summary highlighting sequencing, dependencies, and blockers
• Recommendations for next stories to activate for development-execution

Process

1. Confirm readiness by running CHECKLIST.md and ensuring prerequisite artifacts exist.
2. Prioritize epics/stories based on value, dependencies, and risk.
3. Draft or update story files, capturing acceptance criteria, prerequisites, and test hooks.
4. Use scripts/create_story.py when structured JSON is provided; otherwise author manually with template guidance.
5. Document sprint updates and communicate next-step recommendations to orchestrator and stakeholders.

Quality Gates

CHECKLIST.md must pass before handing off stories. Every story must align with architecture decisions and cite upstream references.

Error Handling

If prerequisites are missing or conflicting:

• Identify the missing artifact or decision and why it blocks story creation.
• Route back to the responsible skill (architecture, UX, product-requirements) for clarification.
• Suggest alternative backlog items only when ready stories already exist.

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