---
name: notion-spec-to-implementation-plan
description: "Converts a written spec into an ordered build plan with owners, checkpoints and the questions that must be settled before work starts. Use when a spec document is approved and needs breaking into ordered tasks with owners and checkpoints before engineers begin. Do not use for writing the spec itself or estimating effort without a spec. Related topics: product, coding."
---

# Notion Spec to Implementation Plan

Converts a written spec into an ordered build plan with owners, checkpoints and the questions that must be settled before work starts.

## When to use

Use this skill when a spec document is approved and needs breaking into ordered tasks with owners and checkpoints before engineers begin. Do not use it for writing the spec itself or estimating effort without a spec.

## Workflow

1. Ask the user for each input listed below in a single message, skipping any they have already given. Where options are listed, offer them, but accept other answers too.
2. Extract every requirement as a numbered line and flag the ones that are vague, missing or in conflict.
3. Group the requirements into milestones that each end in a working product, with the thinnest proving slice first.
4. Order tasks by dependency with the riskiest unknowns early, and assign each to one named owner.
5. Add a checkpoint after each milestone stating what is demonstrated and who approves it.
6. Produce the requirement-to-task table plus the assumptions and open questions, so gaps are visible before work begins.

## Inputs

- **Spec text** (longer free text)
- **Team and roles** (longer free text)
- **Deadline** (free text, e.g. "Date or none")
- **Codebase notes** (longer free text)
- **Plan granularity** (choose one: Milestones only, Milestones and tasks, Tasks with estimates)
- **Risk appetite** (choose one: Cautious, Balanced, Move fast)

## Output

An ordered plan of milestones, tasks with owners and checkpoints, then assumptions, open questions and a requirement-to-task traceability table.

## Prompt template

Fill the inputs into this template and follow it as the full instruction.

### Notion Spec to Implementation Plan

Turn this specification into an implementation plan.

- Spec text: {{Spec text}}
- Team and roles: {{Team and roles}}
- Deadline: {{Deadline}}
- Codebase notes: {{Codebase notes}}
- Plan granularity: {{Plan granularity}}
- Risk appetite: {{Risk appetite}}

First list every requirement in the spec as a numbered line, flagging any that are vague or contradictory. Group them into milestones that each leave the product working, so the first milestone is the thinnest slice that proves the approach. Order tasks by dependency, put risky or unknown work early, and give each task one owner from the team list. After each milestone add a checkpoint: what can be demonstrated and who signs it off. Estimate tasks in half-day units when asked. Record assumptions made to fill spec gaps and a list of open questions with the person who should answer each. Close with a table mapping every numbered requirement to the task that delivers it, so nothing is dropped.

## Pitfalls

- Slicing by layer (database then API then screen), which delays anything demonstrable until the end.
- Assigning one person every task on the critical path, which turns their absence into a missed deadline.
- Silently resolving a contradiction in the spec, so the team builds the wrong half.