Paper Submission Planner

Purpose

Help the user plan a conference paper submission backwards from the deadline, applying the strategic and tactical frameworks from the New Researcher Handbook (Sections 8.3.1 Conference Timeline Management and 8.3.4 Technical Paper Planning). The skill covers both the strategic questions (is this work right for this venue? what's the story?) and the logistical timeline (what needs to happen by when?).

The goal is to prevent the two most common disasters: (1) missing the deadline entirely and losing a year, and (2) submitting a paper that technically exists but isn't ready to be reviewed well.

When to Use

• User names a target conference and a deadline
• User is choosing between venues
• User asks "is my work ready to submit?"
• User is building a timeline for submission
• ~2-3 weeks before a known deadline, as a final readiness check

The Planning Workflow

The flow depends on how far out the user is. Ask the user early on: "Roughly how far are you from the deadline?" and adapt.