Work Items and Estimation Skills

These four skills support backlog setup, estimation, work item creation, and workflow checks before implementation starts.

board-config devsquad, kickoff, decompose, implement

Detects and configures the work item platform for the project. The skill identifies whether the project uses GitHub Issues or Azure DevOps and stores that preference for later workflows.

Core responsibilities:

Responsibility	Detail
Platform detection	Inspects repository context to identify GitHub or Azure DevOps
Process detection	Identifies Azure DevOps process templates when applicable
Preference storage	Saves the chosen board configuration for later skills and agents

Activation triggers: Project kickoff, board setup, first work item operation.

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complexity-analysis kickoff, specify, plan, decompose

Estimates user story complexity using known work, unknown work, and delivery risk. The skill builds scenarios and highlights the sources of uncertainty.

Core responsibilities:

Responsibility	Detail
Work split	Separates known implementation work from risk and uncertainty
Scenario planning	Produces two or three delivery scenarios with trade-offs
Risk classification	Labels work as low, medium, or high based on risk concentration

Risk model:

Level	Signal
Low	Known work with limited uncertainty
Medium	One significant risk or complex logic
High	Multiple risks, major dependency, or broad unknowns

Activation triggers: Estimation, story sizing, backlog decomposition.

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work-item-creation kickoff, decompose, implement, refine

Applies structure and rules when creating work items. The skill standardizes titles, hierarchy, tagging, and linking.

Core responsibilities:

Area	Detail
Type rules	Uses the right structure for epics, features, stories, and tasks
Tagging	Applies required metadata such as Copilot and model tags
Linking	Creates parent-child and related links in the correct order
Content checks	Verifies title format and required fields before creation

Activation triggers: New backlog items, work item decomposition, work item generation from specs.

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work-item-workflow decompose, implement

Checks implementation readiness for an existing work item. The skill confirms assignment, state, dependencies, priority, and capacity before coding begins.

Core responsibilities:

Check	Purpose
Assignee	Confirms ownership
State	Moves the item into the correct working state
Dependencies	Verifies predecessor work is complete
Priority	Confirms ordering against competing work
Capacity	Checks whether the team can absorb the work now

Note

This skill applies to existing board items. It does not create new work items.

Activation triggers: Start of implementation, dependency review, work item readiness check.

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What to Read Next

• Development Skills for branch, commit, and PR workflows
• Skills Reference for the full catalog