Task Coordination Strategies

---
name: task-coordination-strategies
description: Decompose complex tasks, design dependency graphs, and coordinate multi-agent work with proper task descriptions and workload balancing. Use this skill when breaking down work for agent teams, managing task dependencies, or monitoring team progress.
version: 1.0.2
---

# Task Coordination Strategies

Strategies for decomposing complex tasks into parallelizable units, designing dependency graphs, writing effective task descriptions, and monitoring workload across agent teams.

## When to Use This Skill

- Breaking down a complex task for parallel execution
- Designing task dependency relationships (blockedBy/blocks)
- Writing task descriptions with clear acceptance criteria
- Monitoring and rebalancing workload across teammates
- Identifying the critical path in a multi-task workflow

## Task Decomposition Strategies

### By Layer

Split work by architectural layer:

- Frontend components
- Backend API endpoints
- Database migrations/models
- Test suites

**Best for**: Full-stack features, vertical slices

### By Component

Split work by functional component:

- Authentication module
- User profile module
- Notification module

**Best for**: Microservices, modular architectures

### By Concern

Split work by cross-cutting concern:

- Security review
- Performance review
- Architecture review

**Best for**: Code reviews, audits

### By File Ownership

Split work by file/directory boundaries:

- `src/components/` — Implementer 1
- `src/api/` — Implementer 2
- `src/utils/` — Implementer 3

**Best for**: Parallel implementation, conflict avoidance

## Dependency Graph Design

### Principles

1. **Minimize chain depth** — Prefer wide, shallow graphs over deep chains
2. **Identify the critical path** — The longest chain determines minimum completion time
3. **Use blockedBy sparingly** — Only add dependencies that are truly required
4. **Avoid circular dependencies** — Task A blocks B blocks A is a deadlock

### Patterns

**Independent (Best parallelism)**:

```
Task A ─┐
Task B ─┼─→ Integration
Task C ─┘
```

**Sequential (Necessary dependencies)**:

```
Task A → Task B → Task C
```

**Diamond (Mixed)**:

```
        ┌→ Task B ─┐
Task A ─┤          ├→ Task D
        └→ Task C ─┘
```

### Using blockedBy/blocks

```
TaskCreate: { subject: "Build API endpoints" }         → Task #1
TaskCreate: { subject: "Build frontend components" }    → Task #2
TaskCreate: { subject: "Integration testing" }          → Task #3
TaskUpdate: { taskId: "3", addBlockedBy: ["1", "2"] }  → #3 waits for #1 and #2
```

## Task Description Best Practices

Every task should include:

1. **Objective** — What needs to be accomplished (1-2 sentences)
2. **Owned Files** — Explicit list of files/directories this teammate may modify
3. **Requirements** — Specific deliverables or behaviors expected
4. **Interface Contracts** — How this work connects to other teammates' work
5. **Acceptance Criteria** — How to verify the task is done correctly
6. **Scope Boundaries** — What is explicitly out of scope

### Template

```
## Objective
Build the user authentication API endpoints.

## Owned Files
- src/api/auth.ts
- src/api/middleware/auth-middleware.ts
- src/types/auth.ts (shared — read only, do not modify)

## Requirements
- POST /api/login — accepts email/password, returns JWT
- POST /api/register — creates new user, returns JWT
- GET /api/me — returns current user profile (requires auth)

## Interface Contract
- Import User type from src/types/auth.ts (owned by implementer-1)
- Export AuthResponse type for frontend consumption

## Acceptance Criteria
- All endpoints return proper HTTP status codes
- JWT tokens expire after 24 hours
- Passwords are hashed with bcrypt

## Out of Scope
- OAuth/social login
- Password reset flow
- Rate limiting
```

## Workload Monitoring

### Indicators of Imbalance

| Signal                     | Meaning             | Action                      |
| -------------------------- | ------------------- | --------------------------- |
| Teammate idle, others busy | Uneven distribution | Reassign pending tasks      |
| Teammate stuck on one task | Possible blocker    | Check in, offer help        |
| All tasks blocked          | Dependency issue    | Resolve critical path first |
| One teammate has 3x others | Overloaded          | Split tasks or reassign     |

### Rebalancing Steps

1. Call `TaskList` to assess current state
2. Identify idle or overloaded teammates
3. Use `TaskUpdate` to reassign tasks
4. Use `SendMessage` to notify affected teammates
5. Monitor for improved throughput

Run this skill on a real model without leaving the page. Every run is saved to your history for this skill.

How to use

1. 1Save the content below as SKILL.md in your agent's skills directory (e.g. .claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md).
2. 2Or paste it directly into the conversation as context before asking the agent to do the task.
3. 3Adjust any project-specific paths or conventions mentioned in the skill to match your setup.