task-coordination-strategies

SKILL.md

Task Coordination Strategies

Strategies for decomposing complex tasks into parallelizable units, designing dependency graphs, writing effective task descriptions, and monitoring workload across agent teams.

When to Use This Skill

Breaking down a complex task for parallel execution

Designing task dependency relationships (blockedBy/blocks)

Writing task descriptions with clear acceptance criteria

Monitoring and rebalancing workload across teammates

Identifying the critical path in a multi-task workflow

Task Decomposition Strategies

By Layer

Split work by architectural layer:

Frontend components

Backend API endpoints

Database migrations/models

Test suites

Best for: Full-stack features, vertical slices

By Component

Split work by functional component:

Authentication module

User profile module

Notification module

Best for: Microservices, modular architectures

By Concern

Split work by cross-cutting concern:

Security review

Performance review

Architecture review

Best for: Code reviews, audits

By File Ownership

Split work by file/directory boundaries:

src/components/ — Implementer 1

src/api/ — Implementer 2

src/utils/ — Implementer 3

Best for: Parallel implementation, conflict avoidance

Dependency Graph Design

Principles

Minimize chain depth — Prefer wide, shallow graphs over deep chains

Identify the critical path — The longest chain determines minimum completion time

Use blockedBy sparingly — Only add dependencies that are truly required

Avoid circular dependencies — Task A blocks B blocks A is a deadlock

Patterns

Independent (Best parallelism):

Task A ─┐
Task B ─┼─→ Integration
Task C ─┘

Sequential (Necessary dependencies):

Task A → Task B → Task C

Diamond (Mixed):

        ┌→ Task B ─┐
Task A ─┤          ├→ Task D
        └→ Task C ─┘

Using blockedBy/blocks

TaskCreate: { subject: "Build API endpoints" }         → Task #1
TaskCreate: { subject: "Build frontend components" }    → Task #2
TaskCreate: { subject: "Integration testing" }          → Task #3
TaskUpdate: { taskId: "3", addBlockedBy: ["1", "2"] }  → #3 waits for #1 and #2

Task Description Best Practices

Every task should include:

Objective — What needs to be accomplished (1-2 sentences)

Owned Files — Explicit list of files/directories this teammate may modify

Requirements — Specific deliverables or behaviors expected

Interface Contracts — How this work connects to other teammates' work

Acceptance Criteria — How to verify the task is done correctly

Scope Boundaries — What is explicitly out of scope

Template

## Objective
Build the user authentication API endpoints.

## Owned Files
- src/api/auth.ts
- src/api/middleware/auth-middleware.ts
- src/types/auth.ts (shared — read only, do not modify)

## Requirements
- POST /api/login — accepts email/password, returns JWT
- POST /api/register — creates new user, returns JWT
- GET /api/me — returns current user profile (requires auth)

## Interface Contract
- Import User type from src/types/auth.ts (owned by implementer-1)
- Export AuthResponse type for frontend consumption

## Acceptance Criteria
- All endpoints return proper HTTP status codes
- JWT tokens expire after 24 hours
- Passwords are hashed with bcrypt

## Out of Scope
- OAuth/social login
- Password reset flow
- Rate limiting

Workload Monitoring

Indicators of Imbalance

Signal
Meaning
Action

Teammate idle, others busy
Uneven distribution
Reassign pending tasks

Teammate stuck on one task
Possible blocker
Check in, offer help

All tasks blocked
Dependency issue
Resolve critical path first

One teammate has 3x others
Overloaded
Split tasks or reassign

Rebalancing Steps

Call TaskList to assess current state

Identify idle or overloaded teammates

Use TaskUpdate to reassign tasks

Use SendMessage to notify affected teammates

Monitor for improved throughput