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Task decomposition

Skill Owl-Listener/ai-design-skills/skills/design-agent-orchestration/task-decomposition

Breaking complex user goals into subtasks that agents can handle.From its SKILL.md

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npx -y skills add Owl-Listener/ai-design-skills --skill task-decomposition

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SKILL.md

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Task Decomposition

Users come with goals, not subtasks. Task decomposition is how a multi-agent system breaks a complex user goal into pieces that individual agents can handle — and then reassembles the results into something coherent.

Decomposition Strategies

  • Sequential decomposition: Break the goal into ordered steps. Step 1 must complete before Step 2 starts.
  • Parallel decomposition: Break the goal into independent parts that can be worked on simultaneously.
  • Hierarchical decomposition: Break the goal into sub-goals, then break each sub-goal into tasks.
  • Conditional decomposition: The next step depends on the result of the current step. Different results lead to different paths.
  • Iterative decomposition: Start with a rough version, then refine through multiple passes.

Designing Decomposition Rules

For each type of user goal the system handles:

  • What's the entry point? How does the system receive the goal?
  • What are the subtasks? List all possible subtasks for this goal type.
  • What are the dependencies? Which subtasks depend on others' outputs?
  • What's the critical path? Which sequence of subtasks determines the minimum completion time?
  • What can be parallelised? Which subtasks can run simultaneously?
  • What's the reassembly logic? How do subtask results combine into the final output?

Granularity

How finely to decompose matters:

  • Too coarse: Single agents get tasks that are too complex, leading to lower quality
  • Too fine: Overhead from handoffs exceeds the benefit of specialisation
  • Just right: Each subtask matches one agent's sweet spot in terms of scope and complexity

Handling Ambiguity

User goals are often ambiguous. The system needs to:

  • Clarify before decomposing: Ask the user to specify when the goal is unclear
  • Decompose tentatively: Start with a plan and adjust as information emerges
  • Recompose when needed: If decomposition was wrong, restructure without starting over

Design Artefacts

  • Task decomposition trees for each goal type
  • Dependency maps showing subtask relationships
  • Parallelisation specifications
  • Reassembly logic definitions
  • Ambiguity handling protocols

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