/pair-process-plan-initiatives — Strategic Initiative Creation

Transform Product Requirements Documents into strategic initiatives through PRD analysis, prioritization, and collaborative validation. Composes /pair-capability-write-issue for PM tool integration.

Process Profile

<!-- process-step: id=plan-initiatives -->

Executable form of the plan-initiatives step. A direct invocation while a step is disabled by the project's profile warns and asks for confirmation; a composed one never prompts — it degrades exactly as a step that is not installed. No section ⇒ no-op. See process-profile gate.

Composed Skills

Skill	Type	Required
/pair-capability-write-issue	Capability	Yes — creates or updates initiative issues in the PM tool

Arguments

Argument	Required	Description
$scope	No	all (default) — create all initiatives. single — create one initiative at a time.

Algorithm

Step 0: Prerequisite Check

1. Check: Prerequisites present?

   • PRD exists: .pair/adoption/product/PRD.md
   • Bootstrap complete: .pair/adoption/tech/ has way-of-working.md, architecture.md, tech-stack.md
   • PM tool configured: way-of-working.md specifies the adopted tool

2. Skip: If all present, proceed to Step 1.

3. Act: If any missing → HALT:

   Prerequisites incomplete: [list missing]. Complete bootstrap first (/pair-process-bootstrap).

4. Verify: PRD loaded, PM tool identified.

Step 1: Detect Existing Initiatives

1. Check: Query the PM tool for existing initiative issues (label: initiative).

2. Act: Build a registry of existing initiatives:

   EXISTING INITIATIVES:
   ├── #ID: [Title] (Priority: [P0/P1/P2])
   └── ...
   

3. Verify: Registry built. If initiatives already exist, they will be skipped during creation.

Step 2: PRD Analysis

1. Act: Analyze the PRD systematically:
   • Extract primary business objectives and user value propositions.
   • Identify technical constraints and success metrics.
   • Map user pain points to solution areas.
   • Assess market timing and competitive requirements.
2. Act: Identify candidate initiatives:
   • Group related functionality into coherent business value streams.
   • Estimate complexity and resource requirements.
   • Identify dependencies between candidates.
3. Verify: Candidate list prepared.

Step 3: Prioritization

1. Act: Apply P0/P1/P2 prioritization framework:

   • P0 (Must-Have): Core value proposition enablers — launch-critical.
   • P1 (Should-Have): Competitive advantages — growth drivers.
   • P2 (Could-Have): Experience enhancements — retention improvements.

2. Act: Validate dependency flow — higher-priority initiatives must not depend on lower-priority ones.

3. Act: Present prioritized catalog to developer:

   Proposed initiatives: P0: [list] — Core value delivery P1: [list] — Competitive advantages P2: [list] — Experience enhancements

   [N] already exist in PM tool (will be skipped). Approve or adjust?

4. Verify: Developer approves the catalog.

Step 4: Initiative Creation

Process initiatives by priority (P0 → P1 → P2). For each initiative:

1. Check: Does this initiative already exist in the registry (Step 1)?

2. Skip: If exists → skip, report:

   Initiative [Title] already exists (#ID). Skipping.

3. Act: Draft the initiative following the initiative-template.md:

   • Fill template sections with PRD-derived content.
   • Include business rationale, scope, success metrics, risk assessment, timeline.
   • Present to developer for validation.

4. Act: Compose /pair-capability-write-issue with:

   • $type: initiative
   • $content: the filled initiative template

5. Verify: Initiative created in PM tool. Record the ID.

Step 5: Dependency Mapping & Roadmap

1. Act: Map dependencies between all initiatives (new and existing).

2. Act: Present proposed roadmap:

   Roadmap: Phase 1: [P0 initiatives] — Core value delivery Phase 2: [P1 initiatives] — Competitive advantages Phase 3: [P2 initiatives] — Experience enhancements

   Dependencies: [critical path items]

3. Verify: Developer approves roadmap.

Output Format

INITIATIVES COMPLETE:
├── Total:    [N initiatives]
├── Created:  [X new]
├── Skipped:  [Y existing]
├── Priority: [P0: A, P1: B, P2: C]
├── PM Tool:  [adopted tool]
└── Next:     /pair-process-plan-epics

HALT Conditions

• PRD missing (Step 0) — cannot analyze business objectives.
• Bootstrap incomplete (Step 0) — PM tool and tech context required.
• PM tool not accessible — cannot query or create initiatives.
• Developer rejects catalog (Step 3) — must resolve before creation.

Graceful Degradation

• If /pair-capability-write-issue is not installed, warn and provide formatted initiative content for manual PM tool entry.
• If the PM tool is not accessible, produce initiative documents and ask developer to create manually.
• If adoption files (architecture, tech-stack) are missing, proceed with PRD analysis only and warn.

Notes

• This skill modifies PM tool state — creates initiative issues.
• Idempotent: re-invocation detects existing initiatives by title matching and skips them.
• Initiative = highest-level work item. Hierarchy: initiative → epic → story → task.
• The prioritization framework (P0/P1/P2) aligns with PRD business objectives — P0 = launch-critical, P1 = growth, P2 = enhancement.
• After initiative creation, proceed to /pair-process-plan-epics for epic breakdown.