Skip to content

exercise-10-plan-mode.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
100 lines (65 loc) · 3.36 KB

exercise-10-plan-mode.md

File metadata and controls

100 lines (65 loc) · 3.36 KB

Exercise 10 — Plan Mode: Generate Implementation Plan

Duration: 4 minutes
Copilot Feature: Plan Mode (Copilot Edits)
Goal: Use Plan Mode to let Copilot reason through the full implementation strategy before writing any code.

Background

Plan Mode in GitHub Copilot is a deliberate step where Copilot analyzes the task, identifies all files and components affected, and presents an execution plan before taking any action. You review and approve — or modify — the plan before Copilot touches a single file.

This is especially valuable for large tasks (like "implement the entire task module") where you want to verify the approach first.

Step 1 — Switch to Plan Mode

In Copilot Chat:

  1. Click the mode selector at the bottom-left of the chat panel
  2. Select Plan (this may appear as Plan Mode or the pencil/plan icon)

You should see a visual indicator that Plan mode is active.

Step 2 — Send the Implementation Planning Prompt

Copy and paste this prompt:

Read #frd.md and #tsd.md carefully.

Generate a complete, phased implementation plan for the Intelligent Task Management System (ITMS).

Structure the plan as:
- Phase 0: Project setup, folder structure, database migration tooling, CI skeleton
- Phase 1: Authentication & User Management (registration, login, JWT, RBAC)
- Phase 2: Task Management (task creation, assignment, dependencies, status tracking)
- Phase 3: Task Reporting & Progress Summary (project progress, task filters, export)
- Phase 4: Notifications (email via SendGrid, Teams webhooks)
- Phase 5: Reporting (monthly reports, CSV/PDF export)
- Phase 6: Testing, security hardening, and documentation

For each phase, list tasks with:
- Task ID (T-001, T-002...)
- Title
- Effort (S/M/L where S=<4h, M=4-8h, L=8-16h)
- FRD reference (FR-ID or US-ID)
- Whether it can run in parallel or must be sequential
- Whether it's a good candidate for Background Agent (long, self-contained tasks)

Do NOT create any files yet. Show me the plan first.

Step 3 — Review the Plan

Copilot will display the plan before doing anything. Check:

  • All 6 phases are covered
  • Phase 0 includes project scaffolding tasks
  • Tasks reference FRD IDs
  • Some tasks are flagged as Background Agent candidates
  • Effort estimates seem reasonable (Phase 1 ≈ 3–5 days total)

Step 4 — Refine the Plan

Ask Copilot to adjust if needed. Example refinements:

Move the JWT middleware task to Phase 0 since all phases depend on it.
Also add a task for setting up the OpenAPI/Swagger documentation scaffold in Phase 0.

After refinement, approve the plan and switch back to Agent mode to save the plan as a file.

Verify

Open doc/implementation-plan.md and confirm:

  • All phases are present
  • Tasks have IDs, effort estimates, and FRD references
  • Background Agent candidates are flagged
  • Total effort per phase is summarized

Key Takeaway

Plan Mode prevents "tunnel vision" — where Copilot dives into implementation and creates a solution that doesn't fit the full picture. By reviewing the plan first, you catch architectural gaps and poor task ordering before they become code debt. On real projects, this 5-minute review often saves hours of rework.

Next: Exercise 11 — Create Implementation Prompt File