definitiontech-spike
Scope and prioritize technical spikes that de-risk architecture or implementation questions.
When & Why to Use This Skill
This Claude skill streamlines the creation of technical spikes to effectively de-risk complex architecture and implementation decisions. By standardizing the scoping process, it helps engineering leaders define clear success criteria, success metrics, and actionable work plans, ensuring that research efforts lead to confident planning and reduced technical debt.
Use Cases
- Evaluating New Technologies: Rapidly define a spike to assess the feasibility and performance of a new framework or library before committing to it.
- Architectural De-risking: Create a structured plan to investigate potential bottlenecks or integration challenges in a proposed system design.
- Proof of Concept (PoC) Planning: Generate a comprehensive charter for a PoC, including specific questions to answer and explicit success criteria.
- Engineering Resource Allocation: Prioritize technical investigations by clearly outlining the background, required owners, and expected timeboxes for each spike.
| name | definition.tech_spike |
|---|---|
| phase | definition |
| description | Roles or teams partnering on the spike. |
| - name | collaborators |
Purpose
Help engineering leaders quickly define spikes that reduce uncertainty and feed confidently into planning conversations.
Pre-run Checklist
- ✅ Clarify what decision will be unlocked by the spike.
- ✅ Align on timebox and resourcing availability.
- ✅ Gather related research or prior explorations.
Invocation Guidance
codex skills run definition.tech_spike \
--vars "topic={{topic}}" \
"desired_outcome={{desired_outcome}}" \
"constraints={{constraints}}" \
"collaborators={{collaborators}}"
Recommended Input Attachments
- Architecture diagrams or RFCs.
- Known issues or bugs impacting the area.
Claude Workflow Outline
- Summarize context, desired outcome, and constraints.
- Define success criteria and explicit questions to answer.
- Outline the spike plan with tasks, owners, and deliverables.
- Recommend instrumentation or benchmarks to capture results.
- Provide guidance for sharing outcomes and converting to stories.
Output Template
## Spike Charter — {{topic}}
### Background
...
### Questions to Answer
1. ...
### Success Criteria
- Criterion:
### Plan & Timebox
| Task | Owner | Duration | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
### Reporting Plan
- Artifact:
- Audience:
- Next Steps:
Follow-up Actions
- Create spike tickets in the engineering tracker with links to this output.
- Schedule readout with the product trio to review learnings.
- Convert recommendations into backlog work with acceptance criteria.