Task Decomposition

Decompose high-level objectives into manageable, testable sub-tasks.

Framework

1. Requirements Analysis

Extract: Primary objective, implicit requirements, constraints, success criteria.

2. Goal Hierarchy

Main Goal
├─ Sub-goal 1 → Tasks 1.1, 1.2
├─ Sub-goal 2 → Task 2.1
└─ Sub-goal 3

Atomic Criteria: Single action, defined inputs/outputs, one agent, testable.

3. Dependency Mapping

• Sequential: A → B → C
• Parallel: A, B, C (independent)
• Converging: A, B, C → D

4. Success Criteria

Define: Inputs, outputs, quality standards.

Process

Step 1: Understand Goal

Request: [Original]
Goal: [Main objective]
Type: [Implementation/Debug/Refactor]
Complexity: [Simple/Medium/Complex]

Step 2: Identify Components (3-7)

Step 3: Decompose Components

Step 4: Map Dependencies

Step 5: Assign Priorities

• P0 (Critical), P1 (Important), P2 (Nice-to-have)

Step 6: Estimate Complexity

• Low (<30min), Medium (30min-2hr), High (>2hr)

Patterns

Layer-Based (Rust)

1. Data types / schemas
2. Business logic
3. API / CLI interface
4. Integration tests
5. Documentation

Feature-Based

1. Core (MVP)
2. Error handling (thiserror/anyhow)
3. Performance (benches)
4. Integration
5. Testing
6. Docs

Problem-Solution

1. Reproduce
2. Diagnose
3. Design
4. Fix
5. Verify
6. Prevent

Quality Checklist

• Atomic and actionable tasks
• Dependencies identified
• Measurable success criteria
• Appropriate complexity estimates
• No task >4 hours
• Parallelization opportunities found

Rationalizations

Red Flags

• Defining tasks that are too vague to test or verify
• Skipping dependency mapping between decomposed tasks
• Creating tasks larger than 4 hours without further breakdown