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name: research-planning description: Use when starting or reframing a computer science research project and you need to turn a vague idea into a scoped plan with research questions, milestones, risks, and next actions.

Purpose

Turn an idea, problem statement, or paper goal into an executable CS research plan.

When To Use

• starting a new paper, thesis thread, or research prototype
• comparing several candidate directions before implementation
• decomposing a broad topic into concrete work packages
• needing a milestone plan for literature, coding, experiments, and writing

Inputs

• rough idea, question, or target venue
• constraints on time, compute, data, or collaborators
• relevant papers, repos, datasets, or notes if available

Outputs

• scoped research objective
• concrete research questions or hypotheses
• task breakdown by workstream
• milestone sequence and decision points
• risk list with fallback plans
• immediate next actions

Workflow

1. Clarify the target artifact: paper, benchmark, reproduction, prototype, or thesis chapter.
2. Fix hard constraints before expanding scope.
3. Split work into literature, implementation, experiments, and writing tracks.
4. Convert the plan into milestones with visible acceptance criteria.
5. Surface risks, dependencies, and the minimum viable first step.

Constraints

• avoid vague tasks like "do research" without outputs
• prefer falsifiable or testable questions when possible
• distinguish required work from optional stretch work
• keep the first milestone small enough to execute immediately