Building Skills for Claude — Complete Guide

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2.3 The 4 Planning Steps

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The 4 Planning Steps

From idea to a structured skill plan

Define the Use Case Clearly

What task do you repeat? What problem does it solve? Be specific about context and goals.

List Inputs and Expected Outputs

What information does Claude need? What should the result look like? Define format, length, and structure.

Identify Edge Cases

What happens with missing data? What if the user provides incomplete instructions? Plan for the unexpected.

Set Measurable Success Criteria

How will you know the Skill works? Define what 'good enough' looks like.

Example: Use Case Template

Use Case Template

Use Case: Sprint Planning
Trigger: "help me plan a sprint" or "create sprint tasks"
Steps:
  1. Load current project state from Linear (via MCP)
  2. Analyze team velocity and capacity
  3. Suggest task prioritization
  4. Create tasks in Linear with labels and estimates
Result: Fully planned sprint with created tasks

One Skill, One Job

Keep Skills focused. If a Skill tries to do too much, it becomes unreliable. Instead, split complex workflows into multiple linked Skills.

Planning Outcome

After these four steps, you should have a clear written plan before touching any code. This plan becomes the foundation of your SKILL.md.