$ whoami

• Web2 software engineer
• ETH Singapore 2018
• DApps Dev Club
• Rootstock
• Hedera
• Injective

Topics

• What is actually hard now
• Product planning
• Implementation planning
• Building
• Reviewing
• Demo

What Used To Be Hard

Ask yourself

• What takes the most time?
• What requires the most expertise?

What Is Hard Now

Reframe

• Coding got dramatically cheaper
• Planning and review became the bottlenecks
• This talk focuses on the planning side

Recap: What Is Actually Hard

• Software work still has planning, coding, and review
• The effort curve has inverted
• Coding is no longer the scarcest part
• Planning and reviewing now need more attention

Planning = ?

• What the product itself is or does
• How to implement the product

Planning Inputs and Outputs

Input: The Idea

• Problem + (probable) solution
• Extremely high level
• Usually just 5-10 points

Output: Product Description

• Terms and definitions
• Requirements x shapes
• PRD
• Breadboard

From Idea To Product Description

• Start with existing agent skills
• Modify their behavior with custom prompts
• Chain them into a repeatable flow
• Manage context windows, model choice, and effort level

Note: I'm still learning too!

Product Planning Skill Stack

• /grill-with-docs
• /to-prd
• /shaping
• /breadboard
• /grill-with-docs again

Recap: Product Planning

• Planning has clear inputs and outputs
• Stage one turns an idea into a detailed product description
• Agent skills can be composed into that workflow
• Prompting and orchestration matter as much as the skills themselves

Stage Two

Input: Product Description

• Terms and definitions
• Requirements x shapes
• PRD
• Architecture
• Breadboard

Output: Implementation Specs

• Slices
• Architecture
• Test plan
• Issue tickets
• Epic tickets

From Product Description To Specs

• Reuse proven agent skills
• Adjust behavior with custom prompts
• Chain them into a mechanical workflow
• Manage context, model, and effort intentionally

Implementation Planning Skill Stack

• /shaping
• /grill-with-docs
• /grill-with-docs again
• /to-issues

Recap: Implementation Planning

• Stage two converts product description into build-ready specifications
• The workflow is more mechanical than stage one
• It is often the planning stage engineers already recognize
• Skill composition still matters

Not Today

• Building
  • Skills
    • /tdd (@mattpocock)
    • /test-driven-development (@obra)
    • /build (@addyosmani)
  • Orchestrators
    • /goal
    • ralph, openGSD, oh-my-codex, etc
• Reviewing
  • (still researching)

Recap: Building + Reviewing

• We intentionally skipped the deep dive
• The important point is that planning comes first
• Build and review workflows still need iteration

My journey + screw ups

• Find "off the shelf" agent skills
• Run them
• Get insta-specs
• Orchestrator go BRRRR
• Middling result

My goal + revised goal

• Initial goal
  • Use agent skills to one-shot great specs
  • Orchestrator grinds to one-shot build
• Realisation
  • WTF did I flip from agile back to waterfall?
  • Don't build the thing; build the script that builds the thing
• Current goal
  • No one-shots allowed: "Human in the loop"
  • Properly grill: "I am clear about what I'm building"
  • Orchestrator grinds to build vertical slices

Intended takeaways

• One-shot builds are good for:
  • Simple greenfield projects
  • Single features in existing complex projects
  • Everything else: Nope!
• Don't take the human out of the loop
  • Thoughtfully select insertion points
• Most important:
  • Mindset: Self-clarity
  • The hard parts: Before and after coding

Skills which guide you

• build-plan-product
• build-plan-specs
• Don't do this: Create the product plans for you
• Actually do this: Guide/ tutor you to create product plans

Demo Recap

• Live walkthrough completed
• The workflow is the point, not just the output
• Planning quality determines build quality

Q&A

• Ask about planning workflows
• Ask about skill composition
• Ask about building with gen AI in practice

After The Session

• Drop questions in the recording comments
• Reach out directly if you want to compare workflows
• I'm especially interested in better review approaches