Skill: New Work

Description

Single entry point for initiating any unit of work: bug fix, feature, chore, spike, or refactor. Collects the work type, goal, constraints, urgency, and affected areas, then creates a Task Spec, optionally drafts a BA artifact (user story for features, bug report for bugs), and seeds initial tasks with the appropriate dependency wave. This skill replaces the need for separate bug/feature/chore commands by routing through one consistent funnel that adapts its output based on the work type.

Trigger

•Invoked by the /new-work slash command.
•Called by the Team Lead persona when new work enters the pipeline.
•Can be invoked by any persona who identifies work that needs to be done.

Inputs

Input	Type	Required	Description
type	Enum: `bug`, `feature`, `chore`, `spike`, `refactor`	Yes	The kind of work being created
goal	Text	Yes	What this work aims to accomplish — the desired end state
constraints	Text	No	Time, scope, or technical constraints (e.g., "must not break existing API")
urgency	Enum: `low`, `normal`, `high`, `critical`	No	Priority level; defaults to `normal`
affected_areas	List of strings	No	Components, modules, or subsystems involved
composition_spec	File path	No	Composition spec for team context; auto-detected from `ai/team/composition.yml`
seed	Boolean	No	Whether to seed tasks immediately; defaults to `true`

Process

•Assign work ID -- Generate a sequential ID by scanning ai/tasks/ for existing work directories. Format: WRK-{NNN} (e.g., WRK-001).
•Create work directory -- Create ai/tasks/{id}-{type}-{slug}/ where slug is a kebab-case summary of the goal.
•
Generate Task Spec -- Write task.md in the work directory containing:
- •Work ID, type, and slug
- •Goal statement
- •Constraints (if provided)
- •Urgency level
- •Affected areas
- •Status: open
- •Acceptance criteria (derived from the goal — what must be true for this work to be "done")
•
Route by type -- Based on the work type, produce additional artifacts:
- •feature: Draft a user story in ai/outputs/ba/user-stories/ using the BA story template. Include acceptance criteria derived from the goal. Link the story to the task spec.
- •bug: Draft a bug report in ai/outputs/ba/bug-reports/ using the BA bug-report template. Include reproduction steps (if known), expected vs actual behavior, and severity.
- •chore: No additional BA artifact. Task spec is sufficient.
- •spike: Create a spike summary template in the work directory with time-box, questions to answer, and success criteria.
- •refactor: Create a refactoring brief in the work directory with current state, target state, and risk assessment.
•
Determine affected personas -- Based on the work type and affected areas, identify which personas will be involved. Map to the standard dependency wave:
- •feature: BA → Architect → Developer → Tech-QA
- •bug: Developer → Tech-QA (skip BA/Architect for simple bugs; include them for complex ones)
- •chore: Developer (or DevOps, depending on area)
- •spike: Researcher or Architect → Developer
- •refactor: Architect → Developer → Tech-QA
•Seed initial tasks -- If seed is true, call the Seed Tasks skill to create the first wave of tasks for the affected personas, scoped to this work item. Tasks reference the work ID.
•Update shared task list -- If a shared task list exists (ai/tasks/seeded-tasks.md or equivalent), append the new work item with its tasks.

Outputs

Output	Type	Description
task_spec	Markdown file	`ai/tasks/{id}-{type}-{slug}/task.md` — the authoritative work definition
ba_artifact	Markdown file	User story or bug report (for feature/bug types only)
seeded_tasks	Markdown files	Initial tasks for affected personas (if seed=true)
work_summary	Text	Confirmation with work ID, type, assigned personas, and created files

Quality Criteria

•The work ID is unique and sequential across all work items in the project.
•The task spec is self-contained: a persona unfamiliar with the context can understand what needs to be done.
•Acceptance criteria are testable — binary pass/fail, not subjective.
•The type-specific routing produces the correct artifact: features get stories, bugs get reports, spikes get time-boxed briefs.
•Seeded tasks respect the dependency wave appropriate for the work type.
•Urgency level propagates to seeded tasks so personas can prioritize correctly.
•The slug in the directory name is readable and unique within the project.

Error Conditions

Error	Cause	Resolution
`NoGoalProvided`	Goal text is empty	Provide a clear goal statement
`InvalidType`	Work type is not one of the supported values	Use: bug, feature, chore, spike, or refactor
`TasksDirNotWritable`	Cannot write to `ai/tasks/`	Check permissions or ensure the project is scaffolded
`NoActivePersonas`	Composition has no personas for the selected work type	Add appropriate personas to the composition
`DuplicateSlug`	A work directory with the same slug already exists	Use a more specific goal or different slug

Dependencies

•Scaffold Project skill (project must be scaffolded before creating work)
•Seed Tasks skill (called when seed=true)
•BA persona's templates for story and bug report artifacts
•Composition spec for team context and persona availability