scope-anchor

Preventing scope creep requires anchoring a SCOPE.md before any planning begins. You lock boundaries by defining audience, platform, in-scope versus out-of-scope elements, and success criteria to gate downstream artifacts and reduce misinterpretation.

A scope gate is a checkpoint requiring a confirmed SCOPE.md before creating plans, ADRs, or implementation work. It enforces explicit boundaries and answers four mandatory questions to improve traceability and outcomes for architectural decisions.

Defining boundaries for a feature addition involves answering four mandatory questions: audience, platform or stack, in-scope versus out-of-scope items, and success criteria. This produces a SCOPE.md requiring confirmation before execution begins.

No, you cannot create a PLAN.md, ADRs, or implementation work before confirming the project scope. The scope-anchor gate requires an explicit SCOPE.md at the project root to be confirmed first, ensuring traceability and preventing drift.

You need to anchor scope at the very start of any refactoring task before planning or execution begins. Generating a SCOPE.md addresses scope ambiguity by enforcing explicit boundaries and requiring confirmation before downstream work proceeds.