Structured Workflow

[!IMPORTANT] Work in progress. The 20 workflow skills are available for review and experimentation. Project initialization, templates, companion subagents, hooks, and packaged installation are still being designed.

Structured Workflow started as an MCP server in the Sonnet 3.5/3.7 era, when I was trying to answer a question: “How do I get my agents to follow a more structured approach, like a human would, when facing new problems and unknown territory?” This update evolves that idea by bringing in the MYP Design Cycle from my years as a teacher as the core process for building anything with agents.

Structured Workflow is a collaborative skillset for agents and humans. It gives coding agents an evidence-producing design cycle as a workflow structure, guiding them through the reasoned process that a product developer, designer, or engineer would use when approaching and solving a problem. It can be lightweight or support detailed analysis and research. It provides a useful default direction while allowing the work to follow new questions, ideas, prototypes, implementation discoveries, and evaluation evidence wherever they lead.

The repository currently contains 20 skills: one parent and four criterion skills for each of four phases. It also defines the durable project files that preserve shared understanding and workflow position across sessions.

The design cycle

The default direction is to work through phases A–D, one criterion at a time. Work can move to any criterion or phase that best answers the current question. Research, ideas, exploratory visuals, and evaluation can move naturally between criteria as the current question changes.

A — Inquire and Analyze

• A1 — Explain and justify the need
• A2 — Identify and prioritize research
• A3 — Analyze prior art
• A4 — Develop the Design Brief

The phase produces an approved Design Brief supported by inquiry evidence.

B — Develop Ideas

• B1 — Develop design specifications
• B2 — Develop feasible ideas
• B3 — Present and justify the chosen design
• B4 — Develop planning drawings and diagrams

The phase produces an approved Spec that defines the chosen solution.

C — Create Solution

• C1 — Construct a logical plan
• C2 — Demonstrate technical skills
• C3 — Follow the plan to create the solution
• C4 — Justify changes to the design

The phase produces approved tickets, a working solution, verification evidence, and justified changes.

D — Evaluate

• D1 — Design testing methods
• D2 — Evaluate the solution against the design specification
• D3 — Explain how the solution could be improved
• D4 — Explain the solution's impact

The phase produces an evidence-backed verdict, improvements, and an impact explanation.

The default direction inside A and B follows criterion order. Criterion C starts with C1, demonstrates C2 while carrying out C3, and uses C4 when creation requires a design change. A complete final evaluation follows D1 through D4.

Evaluation is also available throughout the cycle. A Design Brief, Spec, plan, ticket set, prototype, implementation, or claim can be evaluated whenever the work needs an evidence-based judgment.

How artifacts develop

Each phase maintains one authoritative project document: