teamwork-task-creator

Teamwork Task Creator Skill

Philosophy

Task quality determines project success. A well-written task saves hours of clarification, reduces implementation errors, and ensures consistent quality. This skill ensures every task created follows best practices for web development project management.

When to Use This Skill

This skill activates when users:

• Say "create a task", "make a ticket", "track this work"
• Provide requirements or features that need documentation
• Mention Teamwork task creation conversationally
• Ask "how do I create a task?"

Do NOT activate for:

• Quick status checks (use teamwork-integrator instead)
• Exporting audit findings in batch (use teamwork-exporter instead)
• Updating existing tasks (the main session has Teamwork MCP — handle directly)
• Complex multi-task workflows with dependencies (handle directly via the Teamwork MCP from the main session, optionally invoking this skill repeatedly for each task)

Template Selection Algorithm

The skill uses context clues to select the appropriate template:

Decision Tree

1. Check for bug indicators:
   - Keywords: "bug", "error", "broken", "crash", "issue", "defect", "not working"
   - If present → BUG REPORT TEMPLATE

2. Check for QA handoff indicators:
   - Keywords: "ready for qa", "qa handoff", "testing", "validate", "test this"
   - Phrases: "hand off to qa", "qa team", "needs testing"
   - If present → QA HANDOFF TEMPLATE

3. Check for epic/big task indicators:
   - Keywords: "multiple devs", "integration branch", "epic", "multidev", "phased"
   - Complexity: mentions "depends on", "blocked by", "multiple components"
   - Scope: estimates >8 hours, mentions team coordination
   - If present → BIG TASK/EPIC TEMPLATE

4. Default to LITTLE TASK TEMPLATE:
   - Single developer work
   - Clear, focused scope
   - Straightforward implementation

Context Analysis Examples

Bug Report:

• "There's a crash when users click the checkout button"
• "The form validation is broken on mobile"
• "I found an error in the login flow"

QA Handoff:

• "The navigation menu is ready for QA"
• "Can you create a task to test the new search feature?"
• "Need QA to validate the responsive design"

Big Task/Epic:

• "Implement OAuth authentication with multiple providers"
• "Need an integration branch for the checkout redesign"
• "Create an epic for the multi-step form wizard"

Little Task:

• "Add a logout button to the header"
• "Change the button color to match brand"
• "Update the copyright year in the footer"

Task Templates

All task templates are available in the templates directory:

• All Four Templates - Big Task/Epic, Little Task, QA Handoff, and Bug Report templates with required and optional sections
• CMS Platform Notes - Drupal, WordPress, and NextJS specific guidance
• Task Examples - Good vs. bad task examples with explanations
• Priority Guide - P0-P4 priority levels and when to use each

Use these templates as starting points, customizing for specific project needs.

Handling Missing Information

When users don't provide complete information:

1. For Required Sections: Ask clarifying questions

   • "What's the expected behavior when the user clicks submit?"
   • "Which URL should QA use to test this?"
   • "What browser did you see this error in?"

2. For Optional Sections: Use placeholders

   • "(add design reference when available)"
   • "(fill in browser testing matrix when picking up ticket)"
   • "(performance considerations to be determined during implementation)"

3. For Ambiguous Scope: Ask the user clarifying questions before creating

   • If user says "improve the search feature" without specifics
   • If multiple interpretations possible
   • If epic vs. task classification unclear

Companion Skills

This skill creates one task at a time. For other Teamwork operations:

• teamwork-integrator — Read-only lookups of existing tasks ("what's the status of PROJ-123?")
• teamwork-exporter — Batch-export audit findings (security/performance/accessibility scans) into a coordinated set of Teamwork tasks with priority mapping and dependency linking
• csv-exporter — Convert FRD requirements into a Teamwork-importable CSV backlog with epic/story/task hierarchy

For complex multi-task scenarios — epics with sub-tasks, batch creation across projects, status updates on existing tasks — the main session has the Teamwork MCP available directly (mcp__teamwork__twprojects-*). Use it directly, optionally invoking this skill repeatedly for each new task to keep template selection consistent.

Example: epic + sub-tasks

User: "Create tasks for implementing the entire checkout redesign"

Approach: invoke this skill to create the parent epic with the BIG TASK template,
then call mcp__teamwork__twprojects-create_task directly for each sub-task with
parent_task_id set to the epic's ID. Use the LITTLE TASK template's required
sections for each sub-task description.

Best Practices

DO:

• ✅ Always include direct page URLs for testing
• ✅ Provide explicit validation steps (numbered lists)
• ✅ Note all deployment requirements (cache, migrations, env vars)
• ✅ Link to designs, documentation, related tickets
• ✅ Specify browser/device testing needs
• ✅ Include CMS-specific context (version, modules/plugins)
• ✅ Use proper markdown formatting for readability

DON'T:

• ❌ Create tasks with vague descriptions ("fix the thing")
• ❌ Omit testing instructions
• ❌ Forget deployment notes
• ❌ Assume developers know implicit requirements
• ❌ Skip reproduction steps for bugs
• ❌ Leave required sections empty

Output Format

When creating a task, provide:

1. Template selected and why

   • "I'm using the Bug Report template because you mentioned an error..."

2. Complete task content

   • Formatted as markdown, ready to paste into Teamwork

3. Suggested priority

   • "I suggest P1 (High) priority because this affects checkout."

4. Next steps

   • "Would you like me to create this task in Teamwork now?"
   • Or: "Here's the formatted task. Copy/paste into Teamwork or let me create it via API."

Example Workflow

User: "Create a task for fixing the broken newsletter signup form"

Skill Response:

I'm using the Bug Report Template because you mentioned "broken" functionality.

However, I need a few more details to create a complete bug report:

1. What's the exact error or problem? (e.g., "500 error", "nothing happens", "wrong email sent")
2. Where does this happen? (specific URL)
3. What browser/device did you observe this on?
4. What were you doing when it broke? (reproduction steps)

Once you provide these details, I'll create a complete bug report task with all required sections.

User: "It's on /newsletter page, when I click Submit nothing happens, tested on Chrome/Mac"

Skill Response:

Perfect! Here's the formatted task:

[Complete Bug Report Template filled in]

Suggested Priority: P1 (High) - Newsletter signup is important for lead generation

Would you like me to create this task in Teamwork now, or would you prefer to review/edit first?