RUSSIAN DOLLS.
Turn a scoped project into the hands of the people doing it.
You already know what the client needs. These four skills find the shape of the work, then zoom in, level by level — broad to specific — until every person has their part.
You scoped the project. Nobody drew its shape.
The deal closed. You know what they need. But between “yes” and “done” is a fog: what are the real workstreams, in what order, who does which part, and what has to pass between them. Most projects start executing before anyone has answered that — and that's where the rework, the dropped handoffs, and the 11pm “wait, who was doing this?” live.
Planning it all at once is overwhelming, so people skip it. The fix isn't a bigger plan. It's one level at a time — broad to specific — each level small enough to actually finish.
BTS — Broad To Specific.
Like a set of Russian dolls: you open the big one and there's a smaller, more detailed one inside. Open that, another. Four dolls, from Anya to Zoya — A to Z. Each doll takes the one before it and zooms in one honest level. None of them tries to do the next one's job.
- Anya takes your brief and draws the shape — the workstreams.
- Olga zooms each workstream into chunks with clear “done means” outcomes.
- Vera turns chunks into executable steps — and hints for the tools you actually use.
- Zoya, the smallest, splits it into a packet for each person — with contracts for what crosses between them.
Every doll interrogates you before it writes — one question at a time. Every output is markdown, built so your AI (or theirs) can keep working from it.
Four skills. One descent.
Each opens the last. Run them in order for a fresh project, or jump in wherever your project already is.
Anya · the shape
Anya draws the shape.
Feed her the brief, the kickoff transcript, the email thread. She interrogates you until the fog clears, then maps the project into workstreams — each with a mission, its deliverables, and what it depends on. No tasks, no tools. Just the honest shape. When detail tempts her, she says it out loud: “that's a deeper doll's job.”
# Bottom line · In / Out · Hard constraints
WS-1 Website · WS-2 Automations · WS-3 …
Shape map · Parked questions · The cast
Olga · the breakdown
Olga breaks it down.
She reads Anya's shape and zooms into every workstream, cutting it into chunks — each with a one-line “done means” so success is observable, not vibes. She logs the crossings: where one workstream waits on another. Those become the handoffs later.
WS-1 → 1a, 1b, 1c · done means …
Crossings: X-1 · 2a needs 4b
Client-side dependencies · Parked
Vera · the steps
Vera makes it executable.
She asks what tools you actually use — any CRM, any builder, any editing suite — then turns every chunk into steps you can start: one sitting each, with a done-check. Where a step touches a tool you named, she drops a pointed hint, the kind a colleague gives over your shoulder. Grouped into sprints that each end in something you can show.
Sprint 1 — ends with: a demo
S-001 ✓ done-check · ↪ hint
S-002 … ⧖ waits on X-1
Zoya · the packets
Zoya hands it to people.
The descent ends in someone's hands. Zoya assigns every step exactly one owner and writes a packet per person — their mission, their steps, and their overlap contracts: what they'll receive from others and what others are waiting on from them, mirrored in both packets so nothing drops. Working solo? Packets become focus modes instead of people.
PACKET-[name].md × each person
Your mission · Your steps
You'll receive ↔ You owe (mirrored)
They know each other.
Each doll looks for the one before it and picks up where it left off — and every output is markdown with a note to your AI, so any session can continue the chain. When reality changes the plan (it will), re-open the doll at the level that changed.
Take all four. The set is the point.
No email gate. No login. Ever. Every skill is inspectable markdown — read every line on GitHub before you run it.
Part of the open demetrious.co skill library — if the dolls help you, a ⭐ there helps others find them.
One file. One drag. Done.
Turn on code execution
In Claude: Settings → Capabilities → Code execution — on. Free accounts included.
Drag each .skill into any chat
Drop it in, hit Save skill. Install all four — they're a set. Claude Code too: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/.
Start with Anya
Point her at your scoped project: “help me shape this project”. Each doll hands you to the next.
The short answers.
Do I have to use all four?
No — but they're built as a descent. Start with Anya on a fresh project, or jump in wherever your project already is: if you already have workstreams, start at Olga; if you have a task list, start at Vera. Each doll can take rough input from chat if the previous file doesn't exist yet.
Is this for a team or a solo freelancer?
Both. For a team, Zoya writes a packet per person with contracts between them. Solo, she splits your work into focus modes instead — same mechanics, so you always know what “you” in one mode owes “you” in another.
Does it assume specific tools?
No. Vera asks what tools you actually use and gives hints for those — whatever CRM, builder, or software you name. No vendor is baked in, and if she's unsure how your tool does something, she says so instead of inventing it.
Is this scoping or pricing?
No. Russian Dolls starts after the project is agreed — it turns “what they need” into “who does what, in what order.” Deciding what to propose or charge is a different job.
What's a Claude skill / is my data shared?
A skill is a folder of instructions Claude reads — one drag to install. Everything runs inside your own Claude; nothing phones home. The full source of all four dolls is public on GitHub.
I kept losing projects in the fog.
I run projects that pass through a lot of hands — strategy, design, build, the people between the client and the work. The part that always hurt wasn't the work itself. It was the gap right after “yes”: knowing the shape, sequencing it, and getting each person exactly their piece plus what they needed from everyone else.
So I built the thing I do in my head, as four skills, one honest level at a time. Broad to specific. From Anya to Zoya. They're free because the fog is everywhere and the way out shouldn't cost anything.