planning

Incremental project planning uses a three-document model: PLAN.md for goals and acceptance criteria, WIP.md for current progress, and LEARNINGS.md for discoveries. This ensures each step leaves the codebase in a verifiably working state before commits.

The progress-guardian workflow is a project-management technique that enforces testing and approval before commits. It maintains project stability by requiring tests to pass and approvals to be granted before integrating incremental changes into the main codebase.

To start planning a feature, create PLAN.md with the feature goal and acceptance criteria. Detail Step 1 by specifying the test, implementation, and done criteria, then use WIP.md to track progress and LEARNINGS.md to capture outcomes as you proceed.

Incremental planning prevents scope creep by structuring work into small, verifiable increments with strict lifecycle governance. Each increment must pass tests and require approval before commits, keeping the codebase stable and avoiding uncontrolled feature expansion.

You should avoid incremental planning if your project does not require maintaining documentation like PLAN.md, WIP.md, and LEARNINGS.md, or if your workflow does not mandate passing tests and securing approvals before each commit.