epic-breakdown-advisor SKILL.md skillA
epic-breakdown-advisor from deanpeters/product-manager-skills is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add deanpeters/product-manager-skills/epic-breakdown-advisor@git:20260810.b68bf96Pins git:20260810.b68bf96 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- deanpeters/product-manager-skills
- Path
skills/epic-breakdown-advisor/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 5
- Latest version
- git:20260810.b68bf96, committed Aug 10, 2026
- First version recorded
- Feb 10, 2026
- Size
- 24,301 bytes
- Repository stars
- 7,599
- License
- a license file GitHub does not identify
Break down epics into user stories with Humanizing Work split patterns. Use when a backlog item is too large to estimate, sequence, or deliver safely.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
## Purpose Guide product managers through breaking down epics into user stories using Richard Lawrence's complete Humanizing Work methodology—a systematic, flowchart-driven approach that applies 9 splitting patterns sequentially. Use this to identify which pattern applies, split while preserving user value, and evaluate splits based on what they reveal about low-value work you can eliminate. This ensures vertical slicing (end-to-end value) rather than horizontal slicing (technical layers). This is not arbitrary slicing—it's a proven, methodical process that starts with validation, walks through patterns in order, and evaluates results strategically. ## Input **Works best with:** The epic or large story you need to break down — paste it as written in your backlog. **Also useful:** Team context (sprint length, estimation ceiling) and what's blocking delivery (too big to estimate, sequence, or release). Anything supplied with the invocation itself — text after the skill name, a pasted context dump, or an appended `ARGUMENTS:` line — counts as answers already given. Use it and skip whatever it covers; don't re-ask. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add deanpeters/product-manager-skills/epic-breakdown-advisor@sha256:4200d75b5c749d6eThe line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260810.b68bf96, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_2hlwoqeiyiybtvlo)
1 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 5 versions of this file, between Feb 10, 2026 and Aug 10, 2026, about one every 45 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20260810.b68bf96 latest | 2026-08-10 | b68bf96 | 24,301 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260704.6a4fbf2 | 2026-07-04 | 6a4fbf2 | 24,253 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260309.0a8f6ac | 2026-03-09 | 0a8f6ac | 23,431 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260211.cc730da | 2026-02-11 | cc730da | 22,538 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260210.c95ff78 | 2026-02-10 | c95ff78 | 22,435 B | A | view |
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (24301 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
deanpeters/product-manager-skills · 7,599 stars · license a license file GitHub does not identify · pushed 2026-10-16 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_2hlwoqeiyiybtvlo GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=deanpeters/product-manager-skills/epic-breakdown-advisor GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/4200d75b5c749d6e095b4aa5c1adec17a32ed79529d824d6a8f80ddf67465954
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.