Playbook 07: the prepare step splits an issue sized over an hour (the operator, 2026-10-17)

00-META/process/07-feature-branches.md

@@ -96,6 +96,10 @@ never into the running one, unless it blocks the running one.
    modules its delivery plan moves, to which machines); and for a group, its merge order. The context file
    points to these notes; an issue reread by another session or a later agent then holds what was found.
    When the reading is large, it starts with a read-only survey agent on the smaller model.
+   **The survey sizes each issue, and an issue sized over an hour is split before any agent starts** (the operator,
+   2026-10-17), into issues of about 30 minutes each, one change each, in the order they land: the bound of a
+   fixing agent's issue is then a real bound. On 2026-10-17 one issue held four changes sized at four to six
+   hours; it ran past its 30-minute bound for over an hour, and the reports could only say "still on part D".
 6. **Move the issues to `fixing`**, `by` naming the feature's agent for that repository.
 
 ## Step 1 — Develop (one fixing agent per repository, smaller model)
@@ -325,6 +329,8 @@ issues in `fixing` that nobody works on reads to the operator as stuck work.
   request into a feature branch exists. A pull request per issue, or an agent waiting on a merge check in
   step 1, is the failure this playbook prevents.
 - A context file exists per touched repository under `.work/<slug>/` while the feature runs.
+- No issue of a running milestone is sized over an hour in its prepare note; an issue whose fixing agent passes
+  twice its bound was not split.
 - Every issue of a running milestone has a note from the prepare step naming its files and tests (file:line), how
   it is checked and delivered, and for a group its merge order (`issue-tracker.get`); an issue moved to `fixing`
   without one is a prepare step skipped.