Task Decomposition Examples

Practical examples of decomposing features into parallelizable tasks with clear ownership.

Example 1: User Authentication Feature

Feature Description

Add email/password authentication with login, registration, and profile pages.

Decomposition (Vertical Slices)

Stream 1: Login Flow (implementer-1)

• Owned files: src/pages/login.tsx, src/api/login.ts, tests/login.test.ts
• Requirements: Login form, API endpoint, input validation, error handling
• Interface: Imports AuthResponse from src/types/auth.ts

Stream 2: Registration Flow (implementer-2)

• Owned files: src/pages/register.tsx, src/api/register.ts, tests/register.test.ts
• Requirements: Registration form, API endpoint, email validation, password strength
• Interface: Imports AuthResponse from src/types/auth.ts

Stream 3: Shared Infrastructure (implementer-3)

• Owned files: src/types/auth.ts, src/middleware/auth.ts, src/utils/jwt.ts
• Requirements: Type definitions, JWT middleware, token utilities
• Dependencies: None (other streams depend on this)

Dependency Graph

Stream 3 (types/middleware) ──→ Stream 1 (login)
                             └→ Stream 2 (registration)

Example 2: REST API Endpoints

Feature Description

Add CRUD endpoints for a new "Projects" resource.

Decomposition (By Layer)

Stream 1: Data Layer (implementer-1)

• Owned files: src/models/project.ts, src/migrations/add-projects.ts, src/repositories/project-repo.ts
• Requirements: Schema definition, migration, repository pattern
• Dependencies: None

Stream 2: Business Logic (implementer-2)

• Owned files: src/services/project-service.ts, src/validators/project-validator.ts
• Requirements: CRUD operations, validation rules, business logic
• Dependencies: Blocked by Stream 1 (needs model/repository)

Stream 3: API Layer (implementer-3)

• Owned files: src/routes/projects.ts, src/controllers/project-controller.ts
• Requirements: REST endpoints, request parsing, response formatting
• Dependencies: Blocked by Stream 2 (needs service layer)

Task Template

## Task: {Stream Name}

### Objective

{1-2 sentence description of what to build}

### Owned Files

- {file1} — {purpose}
- {file2} — {purpose}

### Requirements

1. {Specific deliverable 1}
2. {Specific deliverable 2}
3. {Specific deliverable 3}

### Interface Contract

- Exports: {types/functions this stream provides}
- Imports: {types/functions this stream consumes from other streams}

### Acceptance Criteria

- [ ] {Verifiable criterion 1}
- [ ] {Verifiable criterion 2}
- [ ] {Verifiable criterion 3}

### Out of Scope

- {Explicitly excluded work}