Building Spike Tickets
A spike is a time-boxed investigation ticket whose goal is to reduce uncertainty before committing to a solution. It answers a specific technical question — it does not deliver functionality. When the spike is done, you close it and create follow-up stories based on what you learned.
spike vs spike-output: use spike to *create the ticket* (the investigation plan). Use spike-output to *document the findings* once the investigation is complete.
Generate minimal Jira Spike tickets. Output in English, Jira Markdown, inside a code block.
When to Create a Spike
Create a spike when the team cannot estimate a story because something is unknown:
- Technology feasibility: "Can we integrate X with Y?"
- Architecture uncertainty: "Which of these two approaches should we take?"
- Performance unknowns: "Will this scale to N requests?"
- Third-party API exploration: "What does this API actually support?"
- Security or compliance questions: "How does the library handle auth?"
A spike is not needed when the team already knows how to do the work. If the answer is obvious, skip the spike and write the story directly.
Output Format
- List 3 title suggestions outside the code block (
Spike: [Action] [Subject] for [Context]) - Output the ticket in a single code block using this template:
h2. Problem Statement
[2-3 sentences: what is unknown and why it matters.]
h2. Research Questions
* [Question 1]
* [Question 2]
* [Question 3]
h2. Activities
* [ ] [Task 1]
* [ ] [Task 2]
* [ ] [Task 3]
h2. Definition of Done
* Go/No-Go decision with rationale.
* Refined follow-up ticket ready for sprint planning (if a bug or action is needed).Keep all sections brief. No filler text.
After the Spike
Once the investigation is done, use the spike-output skill to document findings and conclusions in a format ready to paste into the Jira ticket.