Boris Cherny2/ Start Every Complex Task in Plan Mode
Source snapshot: 2026-11-09Independent editorial note
When this pattern helps
The practical value is reducing ambiguity before implementation and making the result observable. Turn the expected behavior into checks that can pass or fail; a confident explanation is not a substitute for a reproducible test.
重点不是让提示词更长，而是先消除实现歧义，并把预期结果变成可通过或失败的检查。模型解释得很肯定，不等于测试已经通过。
Pour your energy into the plan so Claude can 1-shot the implementation.
One person has one Claude write the plan, then they spin up a second Claude to review it as a staff engineer.
Another says the moment something goes sideways, they switch back to plan mode and re-plan. Don't keep pushing. They also explicitly tell Claude to enter plan mode for verification steps, not just for the build.
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