Skip to content

feat: formalize structural changes signal in decomposition workflow #124

@rube-de

Description

@rube-de

Context

PR #122 introduced deterministic size label selection for Epic and New Project sub-issues. Three separate reviewers (across two review rounds) flagged the same gap: the Epic sub-issue sizing table depends on a "Structural Changes" value, but:

  1. Epic Flow: The decomposition table schema (Sub-issue | Subsystems | Acceptance criteria | Depends on) has no structural-changes column
  2. New Project Flow: Produces MVP features + bootstrap tasks, not a formal decomposition table with subsystems/structural-changes fields

Currently the PM derives structural changes from its assessment during decomposition (WORKFLOWS.md line 211: "Verify each chunk is independently completable — no bundled structural changes"). This works pragmatically but isn't formally recorded.

Proposal

Add an explicit per-sub-issue signal for structural changes. Options:

Option A — Extend decomposition table schema:

| # | Sub-issue | Subsystems | Structural Changes | Acceptance criteria | Depends on |

Option B — Add a "Complexity Hints" block per sub-issue draft:

- Subsystems: Single | Multiple
- Structural changes: Yes | No

Option C — Keep current approach, document it explicitly:
Add a note in WORKFLOWS.md clarifying that the PM determines structural changes during the Round 2 Step 3 verification and carries that assessment forward to sizing.

References

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    enhancementNew feature or request

    Projects

    No projects

    Milestone

    No milestone

    Relationships

    None yet

    Development

    No branches or pull requests

    Issue actions