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Agile / Scrum Workflow ​

Lightweight Agile/Scrum governance that loads only when an Agile context is detected. Non-Agile sessions pay zero context cost.

Best for: Teams running Jira-tracked sprints with the toolkit Time estimate: Per-sprint ceremonies; no setup beyond opt-in frontmatter Skills used: mk:plan-creator, mk:sprint-contract, mk:retro, mk:jira-agile, mk:ship, mk:agent-detectorRules: agile-story-gates.md, agile-sprint-commitment.md, agile-feedback-cycle.md (in .claude/rules-conditional/)

Overview ​

The toolkit ships a thin Agile governance layer covering:

  • Definition of Ready (DoR) — Phase 1 entry advisory: AC text, estimate, sprint linkage, recent evaluator report, no open blockers
  • Definition of Done (DoD) — Gate 2 PASS extension: post verdict to Jira, transition status, business AC checkbox
  • Sprint goal persistence — file-based contract surviving across sessions
  • Mid-sprint amendment ceremony — log scope changes transparently, never silently
  • Sprint close hygiene — disposition prompt for non-terminal commits + closure summary
  • Retro action-item ceremony — surfaced retro insights become tracked work or documented "no action" decisions
  • Spike governance — time-boxed investigations with findings doc; INCOMPATIBLE with mk:harness FULL

No new agents, no new hooks, no new gates. Wires into existing skills.

Activation ​

The 3 Agile rules load via mk:agent-detector Step 0b ONLY when an Agile context is detected. OR-logic — any one match triggers load:

TriggerDetection
Sprint-state contract presentGlob tasks/contracts/sprint-state-*-sprint-*.md returns ≥1 result
Plan frontmatterjira_tickets: non-empty in active plan
Env varMEOW_JIRA_BASE_URL set
User promptLast user message matches [A-Z]{2,10}-\d+

A pre-flight check verifies the .claude/rules-conditional/ directory exists; if absent, the load is skipped silently.

Sprint Setup ​

Step 1: Create the sprint-state contract ​

bash
/mk:sprint-contract sprint-goal set "Reduce p99 checkout latency below 800ms" --sprint 42

Writes to tasks/contracts/sprint-state-{YYMMDD}-sprint-42.md:

yaml
---
sprint_id: 42
sprint_goal: "Reduce p99 checkout latency below 800ms"
start_date: 2026-05-13
end_date: 2026-05-27
committed_tickets: []
amendments: []
status: active
---

Step 2: Create plans with Jira traceability ​

In your tasks/plans/{slug}/plan.md frontmatter:

yaml
jira_tickets: [PROJ-123, PROJ-124]
sprint_id: 42

Now mk:plan-creator will run the DoR advisory at Phase 1 entry, and mk:ship will surface DoD prompts at Gate 2 PASS.

Per-Sprint Ceremonies ​

Definition of Ready (Phase 1 entry) ​

When you run /mk:plan on a plan that has jira_tickets:, the DoR advisory checks each ticket:

  1. AC text present
  2. Non-zero story-point estimate
  3. Sprint linkage if sprint_id: is present
  4. Recent (≤14d) mk:jira-evaluator report
  5. No open is blocked by link to a non-Done ticket

Output is advisory only — never blocks. Surface gaps; you decide.

Mid-sprint scope change ​

bash
/mk:jira-agile sprint add PROJ-125 --sprint 42

If the sprint is already active, the skill:

  1. Acquires flock on the sprint-state file (concurrent-write safety)
  2. Prompts: "Reason for mid-sprint scope change?" — required free-text
  3. Appends { ts, action: add, ticket: PROJ-125, reason } to amendments:
  4. Releases the lock and proceeds with the underlying Jira call

The append IS the commitment. No re-sign ceremony for non-harness work.

Definition of Done (Gate 2 PASS) ​

When /mk:ship runs and the verdict has non-empty jira_tickets:, three opt-in actions surface:

  1. Verdict→Jira comment. "Post the Gate 2 verdict to PROJ-123 as a comment? [Y/n/edit]"
  2. Status transition. "Transition PROJ-123 to Done? [Y/n/skip]"
  3. Business AC checkbox. Source priority: (a) Jira AC field; (b) fallback to plan.md ## Acceptance Criteria if Jira read fails

Each is cancel-safe. Each has a Jira-offline fallback (posted_to_jira: deferred, transitioned_to_done: deferred).

For non-Agile sessions (verdict has no jira_tickets:), the entire DoD block is skipped via early-return guard. ONE frontmatter read; effectively zero added cost.

Sprint close ​

bash
/mk:jira-agile sprint close --sprint 42

The skill:

  1. Reads committed_tickets: from the sprint-state contract
  2. Queries each ticket's status via mk:jira-issue get
  3. For each non-terminal ticket: "PROJ-X is in {status}. Carry over? Drop? Mark not delivered?"
  4. Writes closure summary: status: closed, closed_at, delivered: [...], carried_over: [...]

Retrospective with action-item ceremony ​

bash
/mk:retro

After the narrative is written, when an Agile context is active, mk:retro parses ## 3 Things to Improve and ## 3 Habits for Next Week and surfaces a per-item AskUserQuestion:

OptionEffect
Create Jira story nowmk:jira-issue create body pre-filled — REQUIRES user review
Add to plan TODOAppend to active plan
Document as no-actionAppend to .claude/memory/retros/{date}-decisions.md with reason
Defer to next retroCarry forward

The retro is not "complete" until every action has a disposition.

Spikes (time-boxed investigation) ​

bash
/mk:plan-creator --spike --timebox 2d "Investigate JWT refresh strategy options"

Generates a two-phase plan from mk:plan-creator/assets/spike-plan-template.md:

  • Phase 1 — Investigate (within timebox)
  • Phase 2 — Document Findings (≤25% of timebox)

Frontmatter includes spike: true, timebox: "2d", findings_doc:. NO test phase, NO ship phase.

Harness incompatibility

Spike plans are INCOMPATIBLE with mk:harness FULL density mode. Harness FULL requires Phase 2 (test red) → Phase 3 (build green) → Phase 4 (review) sequence with a sprint-contract gate. Spikes skip Phase 2/Phase 5; the harness flow breaks. Run via mk:cook or mk:plan-creator --fast.

At spike completion: "Convert findings to delivery story? [Yes — extract AC | No — research-only | Defer]"

Architecture ​

  • Plan-as-source-of-truth retained — Jira receives projections only (verdict comment, status transition); never authoritative
  • Reports-not-automation preserved — every action surfaces a prompt; no silent ticket creation
  • Sprint-state contracts at tasks/contracts/sprint-state-{date}-sprint-{N}.md — distinct from per-story sprint-CONTRACT files. Leading sprint-state- prefix prevents glob collision with the existing contract validator
  • Concurrent-write safety — writers acquire flock before any read-modify-write cycle on sprint-state files; YAML frontmatter append is non-atomic across shells
  • Validator scope — validate-contract.sh validates per-story sprint-CONTRACT files only; sprint-STATE files have NO validator (YAML parsed inline by consuming skills)

Out of Scope ​

The following are deliberately NOT covered by this rule layer:

  • WIP limits (team policy concern)
  • Async standup cadence (needs cron)
  • PO acceptance ceremony (human social)
  • Velocity hygiene (skill-level concern)
  • Bidirectional Jira sync (Jira is projection-only)

See Also ​

Released under the MIT License.

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