Executing Plans

Work through a plan task by task, checking each one before moving on and bringing the user in where the plan or reality says they should be.

Scale it

• Small: work through the task list, verifying as you go.
• Substantial: follow the steps below.

How

1. Read the whole plan critically first. Raise gaps, contradictions or risky assumptions before starting, not halfway through.
2. Track tasks with whatever task tracking the harness provides. If you're on the main branch of a shared repository, check with the user before making substantial changes there, or set up a branch (isolating-workspaces).
3. For each task: implement it (with testing-first for behavior changes), run its check, and read the result.
4. Stop at checkpoints the plan marks. Summarize what was done, show the evidence, and ask whether to continue.
5. Stop early when reality diverges. If a check fails in a way the plan didn't anticipate, an instruction doesn't fit the code, or the approach looks wrong, pause and explain. Don't force the plan through.
6. Keep the plan honest. If you deviate for good reason, update the plan and say why.

Skip or shorten when

• The plan has no checkpoints and the tasks are routine. Run straight through and report at the end.
• The user asks you to go without stopping. Still stop for failures you can't explain.

Done means

Every task's check has run and passed (or its failure has been reported), and deviations from the plan are recorded.

Next

• verifying-before-claiming before reporting completion
• requesting-review for substantial or risky changes
• finishing-work to integrate the result