git:20260507.56f011d to git:20260507.8dfdcb4

6 added, 14 removed. Audit A to C.

---

name: work-decomposition

description: Decompose goals into MEOWs (Molecular Expressions of Work) - trackable atomic units following Gas Town's bead-based work model.

allowed-tools: Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Grep, Glob, WebFetch, WebSearch, Agent, AskUserQuestion

- graph:

- domains: [domain:software-engineering]

- ---

- # Work Decomposition

- ## Overview

- Break high-level goals into MEOWs (Molecular Expressions of Work) - the fundamental atomic units in Gas Town. Each MEOW becomes a bead (git-backed work unit) or wisp (ephemeral task).

- ## When to Use

- - Before creating a convoy

+ graph:

+ domains: [domain:software-engineering]

+ skillAreas: [skill-area:agentic-loops, skill-area:orchestration-loop]

+ workflows: [workflow:feature-development]

+ topics: [topic:developer-experience]

+ roles: [role:tech-lead, role:backend-engineer]

- When a goal is too large for a single agent

- When parallel execution would benefit progress

- When work needs tracked attribution

## Process

1. **Analyze** the goal and project context

2. **Identify** natural seams for decomposition

3. **Create MEOWs** with clear boundaries and dependencies

4. **Classify** as beads (persistent) or wisps (ephemeral)

5. **Map dependencies** between MEOWs

6. **Estimate** effort and assign priorities

## Decomposition Principles

- Each MEOW should be completable by a single agent

- Dependencies should form a DAG (no cycles)

- Prefer more smaller beads over fewer larger ones

- Wisps for throwaway work (scaffolding, exploration)

- Every MEOW gets attribution tracking

## Tool Use

Invoke via babysitter process: `methodologies/gastown/gastown-orchestrator` (analyze-work step)