Plan Estimation

TL;DR: Before estimating waves or complexity, check historical plans for similar work.

Process

1. Read recent plans: Glob .claude/plans/*.md — read the last 20 by modification date
2. Extract metadata: For each plan, note:
   • Number of waves/phases
   • Domain (DB, pipeline, frontend, scoring, plugin, etc.)
   • Actual completion time if noted in journals
3. Find similar work: Match current task keywords against historical plans
4. Surface comparison: "Similar past tasks: [plan1] (N waves), [plan2] (M waves). Median: X waves."

Calibration Rules

• Plugin/hook work: typically 1-2 waves per script, 15-30 min each
• Skill file creation/editing: 5-10 min per skill, can batch 3-4 per wave
• DB migrations + pipeline: typically 2-4 waves, 30-60 min each
• Frontend features: typically 3-5 waves depending on component count
• Full feature (DB + API + frontend): typically 4-8 waves