38 lines
2 KiB
Markdown
38 lines
2 KiB
Markdown
---
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name: status-and-blockers
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description: Keep your visible status current and surface blockers proactively instead of parking silently. Call set_status at the start of every task describing what you're working on (or clear it to idle when there's nothing to do), update it the moment the work changes rather than leaving a stale description, and report a genuine blocker explicitly (file it, flag it) rather than waiting quietly for someone to notice. Use this at the start of any task and again whenever what you're doing actually changes.
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---
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# Status and Blockers
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A stale status is worse than no status - it actively misleads whoever's
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watching. Keeping it honest costs one tool call; the alternative costs
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someone else's trust that your status means anything.
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## Keep status current
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- Set it at the **start** of a task: what you're working on, in enough
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words that someone skimming a dashboard understands the current
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activity without asking.
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- Update it **the moment the work changes** - don't let "surveying
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before answering" sit there long after you've already answered.
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Ending a turn or waiting on something doesn't fix a stale status;
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only calling the status update does.
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- Clear it to idle (or an equivalent "nothing to do") when you
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genuinely have nothing in flight. An idle agent showing a stale
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"working on X" status wastes the next person's time chasing a ghost.
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## Respond honestly to status checks
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If asked directly what you're doing or whether you're blocked, answer
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promptly and accurately - don't let a check-in go stale in your own
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inbox while you keep grinding on something unrelated.
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## Report blockers, don't just wait
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If you're stuck on something outside your control - waiting on a
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decision, a dependency, missing information - **surface it explicitly**
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(file it as a tracked item, flag the specific person who can unblock
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you) rather than silently sitting on it until someone happens to check
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in. A blocker nobody knows about doesn't get resolved faster by staying
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quiet about it.
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