subagent-driven-development

Read the plan once, extract all tasks with full text into a todo list, then dispatch an implementer subagent per task with the complete task text and context. After each task, run a spec compliance review followed by a code quality review before marking it complete.

Subagent-driven development runs in the same session with a fresh subagent per task and automatic two-stage reviews, enabling faster iteration. Executing plans uses a parallel session with human-in-the-loop handoffs between tasks.

Spec compliance confirms the implementation matches requirements exactly, with nothing missing or extra. Reviewing code quality first wastes effort on code that may need rework to meet the spec, so quality review only starts after compliance passes.

Assess the blocker: provide more context and re-dispatch if it is a context problem, use a more capable model if it needs more reasoning, split the task if it is too large, or escalate to the human if the plan itself is wrong. Never force the same model to retry unchanged.

No. Dispatching multiple implementation subagents in parallel causes conflicts between their changes. Tasks are executed sequentially, with each task completing both review stages before the next implementer is dispatched.

Avoid it when tasks are tightly coupled and cannot be isolated, when no implementation plan exists yet, or when you prefer a parallel session with human checkpoints. In those cases, brainstorm or write a plan first, or use the executing-plans workflow.