# General Planning

> Plan non-software initiatives such as operations, research, process changes, programs, events, or organizational work. Use when execution needs coordinated decisions, ownership, dependencies, risks, and verification. For code changes or software architecture, use software-implementation-planning instead.

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

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# General planning

Produce a plan another person can execute without redoing the important research or guessing at key decisions. Scale the detail to the cost, uncertainty, and reversibility of the work.

## Establish the outcome

Extract known requirements from the conversation before asking questions. Resolve only gaps that materially change the plan:

- Desired outcome and success measures.
- Scope and explicit non-goals.
- Deadline, budget, policy, or resource constraints.
- Stakeholders, decision owners, and affected groups.
- Reversible versus irreversible actions.

Do not require a separate confirmation round when the request is already clear.

## Ground the plan

Use primary sources for facts the plan depends on: current policy, contracts, schedules, inventories, measurements, or the responsible owner. Cite sources precisely enough to re-check them. Keep verified facts separate from assumptions.

Inventory existing assets and prior work before proposing new processes, vendors, documents, or systems.

## Choose an approach

Recommend one approach and state why it fits. Mention alternatives only when the decision remains open or the tradeoff affects approval.

For each major workstream, define:

- Deliverable and owner.
- Inputs and dependencies.
- Sequence or milestone.
- Acceptance evidence.
- Failure, delay, or fallback behavior.

Make handoffs explicit. Identify what must persist across interruption, staff changes, or schedule slips and where that information lives.

## Handle risk proportionally

Include risks that could change execution, not a mandatory list of generic concerns. For each material risk, give an owner or disposition: prevent, monitor, mitigate, accept, or decide later.

Add confirmation gates and drift checks before destructive, costly, public, or difficult-to-reverse actions. A rollback should undo only the plan's own effects.

## Write an executable plan

Use a concise structure:

1. **Outcome and scope** — what success means and what is excluded.
2. **Grounded findings** — only facts that drive the plan, with sources.
3. **Approach** — the chosen path and key decisions.
4. **Workstreams or milestones** — ordered actions, owners, dependencies, and deliverables.
5. **Risks and decisions** — material uncertainties with dispositions.
6. **Verification** — observable evidence that each outcome was achieved.

Use tables when they make ownership, schedule, or dependencies easier to scan. Avoid padding, generic best practices, and research that does not affect a decision.

## Final review

Check that:

- The plan answers the stated outcome and constraints.
- Owners and decision points are clear.
- Dependencies and handoffs are ordered.
- Factual claims are sourced or labeled as assumptions.
- Irreversible actions have appropriate gates.
- Verification is observable and practical.
- The document is short enough that its executor will use it.