Purpose
Guide a user through the 8-layer SDD workflow (BRD → PRD → EARS → BDD → ADR → SPEC → TDD → IPLAN → Code). It locates the current position from completed artifacts, recommends prioritized next steps with rationale, surfaces work that can proceed in parallel, and reports progress — removing the friction of manually deciding what to build next.
When to Use
Use workflow-optimizer when:
- You just completed an artifact and need next-step guidance.
- You are starting documentation and want a workflow overview.
- You want to find parallel-work opportunities or a progress report.
Do not use it to pick a skill for a specific task (use
../skill-recommender/SKILL.md), to gather project context (use
../context-analyzer/SKILL.md), or to validate artifacts (use
../trace-check/SKILL.md or ../quality-advisor/SKILL.md).
Behavior
Given a project_root (and optionally a just-completed artifact and a focus
filter), the skill:
- Analyzes project state — discovers artifacts and extracts status (Draft, In Review, Approved, Superseded, Deprecated) from Document Control, producing counts by type.
- Determines workflow position — maps artifacts to layers 1–8 (each with a single-layer prerequisite per the cumulative chain), marking layers as completed, in-progress, ready, or blocked, and computes a progress percentage.
- Identifies required next steps — uses the dependency chain to list mandatory next artifacts, prioritized P0/P1/P2 with rationale and what each unblocks.
- Finds parallel opportunities — independent BRD/PRD tracks, ADRs that can be drafted concurrently, and BDD scenarios that can start once EARS requirements exist; notes items blocked by missing upstream layers.
- Calculates progress metrics — per-layer status and the critical path (EARS → BDD → ADR → SPEC → TDD → IPLAN).
- Generates recommendations — concrete next actions naming the layer skill
to run (e.g.
../doc-ears/SKILL.md), parallel suggestions, blocked items with unblock paths, and a progress summary.
Related Resources
- Layer registry (layers & prerequisites):
framework/registry/LAYER_REGISTRY.yaml - Traceability:
framework/governance/TRACEABILITY.md - Layer skills:
../doc-brd/SKILL.md…../doc-iplan/SKILL.md - Related skills:
../context-analyzer/SKILL.md·../skill-recommender/SKILL.md·../doc-flow/SKILL.md