Files
architecture/skills/backlog-grooming/SKILL.md
Hugo Nijhuis 98796ba537 Improve skill descriptions and documentation
Updated all skill descriptions with proper trigger terms following
the pattern: "What it does. Use when [trigger terms]."

Skills updated:
- code-review: triggers on PR review, code quality, bugs, security
- issue-writing: triggers on creating issues, bug reports, features
- backlog-grooming: triggers on grooming, reviewing issue quality
- roadmap-planning: triggers on planning features, breaking down work

Updated docs/writing-skills.md:
- Added YAML frontmatter requirements section
- Documented required and optional fields
- Added guidance on writing effective descriptions
- Updated "How Skills are Loaded" to reflect model-invoked behavior
- Added note about subagent skill access
- Updated checklist with frontmatter requirements
- Added reference to official documentation

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-01-01 10:30:04 +01:00

2.2 KiB

name, description
name description
backlog-grooming Review and improve existing issues for clarity and actionability. Use when grooming the backlog, reviewing issue quality, cleaning up stale issues, or when the user wants to improve existing issues.

Backlog Grooming

How to review and improve existing issues.

Grooming Checklist

For each issue, verify:

1. Title Clarity

  • Starts with action verb
  • Specific and descriptive
  • Understandable without reading description

2. Description Quality

  • Has clear summary
  • Explains the "why"
  • Provides enough context

3. Acceptance Criteria

  • Criteria exist
  • Each criterion is testable
  • Criteria are specific (not vague)
  • Complete set (nothing missing)

4. Scope

  • Not too broad (can complete in reasonable time)
  • Not too narrow (meaningful unit of work)
  • Clear boundaries (what's included/excluded)

5. Dependencies

  • Dependencies identified
  • No circular dependencies
  • Blocking issues are tracked

6. Labels

  • Type label (bug/feature/etc)
  • Priority if applicable
  • Component labels if applicable

Common Issues to Fix

Vague Titles

  • Bad: "Fix bug"
  • Good: "Fix login form validation on empty email"

Missing Acceptance Criteria

Add specific, testable criteria based on the description.

Scope Creep

If issue covers multiple features, split into separate issues.

Stale Issues

  • Close if no longer relevant
  • Update if context has changed
  • Add "needs-triage" label if unclear

Duplicate Issues

  • Close duplicate with reference to original
  • Merge relevant details into original

Grooming Workflow

Use the gitea skill for issue operations.

  1. Fetch open issues
  2. Review each issue against checklist
  3. Improve or flag issues that need work
  4. Update issue with improvements
  5. Add labels as needed

Questions to Ask

When grooming, consider:

  • "Could a developer start work on this today?"
  • "How will we know when this is done?"
  • "Is the scope clear?"
  • "Are dependencies explicit?"

Batch Grooming

When grooming multiple issues:

  1. List all open issues
  2. Categorize by quality (ready, needs-work, stale)
  3. Focus on "needs-work" issues
  4. Present summary of changes made