Scope Guard

Prevents overengineering by both Claude and human during the brainstorm→plan→execute workflow. Forces explicit evaluation of every proposed feature against business value, opportunity cost, and branch constraints.

Philosophy

Core Belief: Not all features deserve implementation. Most ideas should be deferred to backlog until proven necessary.

Three Pillars:

1. Worthiness Scoring - Quantify value vs cost before building
2. Opportunity Cost - Compare against existing backlog
3. Branch Discipline - Respect size thresholds

When to Use

• During brainstorming sessions before documenting designs
• During planning sessions before finalizing implementation plans
• When evaluating "should we add this?" decisions
• Automatically via hooks when branches approach thresholds
• When proposing new features, abstractions, or patterns

When NOT to Use

• Bug fixes with clear, bounded scope
• Documentation-only changes
• Trivial single-file edits (< 50 lines)
• Emergency production fixes

Quick Start

1. Score the Feature

Use the Worthiness formula:

(Business Value + Time Criticality + Risk Reduction) / (Complexity + Token Cost + Scope Drift)

See decision-framework.md for details.

Thresholds:

• > 2.0 → Implement now
• 1.0 - 2.0 → Discuss first
• < 1.0 → Defer to backlog

2. Check Against Backlog

Compare against docs/backlog/queue.md:

• Does it beat top queued items?
• Is there room in branch budget?

3. Verify Branch Budget

Default: 3 major features per branch

If at capacity, must drop existing feature, split to new branch, or justify override.

4. Monitor Thresholds

Watch for Yellow/Red zones:

• Lines: 1000/1500/2000
• Commits: 15/25/30
• Days: 3/7/7+

See branch-management.md for monitoring.

Core Workflow

Step 1: Calculate Worthiness (scope-guard:worthiness-scored)

Score each factor (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13):

• Value Factors: Business Value, Time Criticality, Risk Reduction
• Cost Factors: Complexity, Token Cost, Scope Drift

Details: decision-framework.md

Step 2: Compare Against Backlog (scope-guard:backlog-compared)

1. Check docs/backlog/queue.md for existing items
2. Compare Worthiness Scores
3. New item must beat top queued item OR fit within branch budget

Step 3: Check Branch Budget (scope-guard:budget-checked)

Count current features in branch. If at budget (default: 3), new feature requires:

• Dropping an existing feature, OR
• Splitting to new branch, OR
• Explicit override with justification

Step 4: Document Decision (scope-guard:decision-documented)

Record outcome:

• Implementing: Note Worthiness Score and budget slot
• Deferring: Add to docs/backlog/queue.md with score and context
• Rejecting: Document why (low value, out of scope)

Anti-Overengineering Rules

Key Principles:

• Ask clarifying questions BEFORE proposing solutions
• No abstraction until 3rd use case
• Defer "nice to have" features
• Stay within branch budget

See anti-overengineering.md for full rules and red flags.

Backlog Management

Directory Structure

docs/backlog/
├── queue.md              # Active ranked queue
└── archive/
    ├── ideas.md          # Deferred feature ideas
    ├── optimizations.md  # Deferred performance work
    ├── refactors.md      # Deferred cleanup
    └── abstractions.md   # Deferred patterns

Queue Rules

• Max 10 items in active queue
• Items older than 30 days without pickup → move to archive
• Re-score monthly or when project context changes

Adding to Queue

When deferring, add to docs/backlog/queue.md:

| Rank | Item | Worthiness | Added | Branch/Epic | Category |
|------|------|------------|-------|-------------|----------|
| 1 | [New item description] | 1.8 | 2025-12-08 | current-branch | idea |

Re-rank by Worthiness Score after adding.

Integration Points

With superpowers:brainstorming

At end of brainstorming, before documenting design:

1. List all proposed features/components
2. Score each with Worthiness formula
3. Defer items scoring < 1.0 to backlog
4. Check branch budget for remaining items

Self-invoke prompt: "Before documenting this design, let me evaluate the proposed features with scope-guard."

With superpowers:writing-plans

Before finalizing implementation plan:

1. Verify all planned items have Worthiness > 1.0
2. Compare against backlog queue
3. Confirm within branch budget
4. Document any deferrals

Self-invoke prompt: "Before finalizing this plan, let me verify scope with scope-guard."

During superpowers:execute-plan

Periodically during execution:

1. Run threshold check: lines, files, commits, days
2. Warn if Yellow zone reached
3. Require justification if Red zone reached

Self-invoke prompt: "This branch has grown significantly. Let me check scope-guard thresholds."

Required TodoWrite Items

When evaluating a feature, create these todos:

1. scope-guard:worthiness-scored
2. scope-guard:backlog-compared
3. scope-guard:budget-checked
4. scope-guard:decision-documented

Related Skills

• superpowers:brainstorming - Ideation workflow this guards
• superpowers:writing-plans - Planning workflow this validates
• imbue:review-core - Review methodology pattern

Module Reference

• decision-framework.md - Worthiness formula, scoring, thresholds
• anti-overengineering.md - Rules, patterns, red flags
• branch-management.md - Thresholds, monitoring, zones
• baseline-scenarios.md - Testing scenarios and validation