Decisions
- Use behavioral rules in CLAUDE.md as primary mechanism
- Pending: Should /briefing include a “wins this week” section?
- Pending: Should there be a persistent “current focus” marker?
- Pending: How to measure if this actually helps?
User Tasks
Summary
Help the user keep building and not stop — reduce overwhelm, suggest next steps, celebrate progress.
Problem / Motivation
The user is afraid of losing momentum and stopping entirely. They get overwhelmed by too many options and don’t know where to start. If the barrier to continue is too high, they might not pick it back up.
Proposed Solution
Behavioral patterns baked into how Claude operates:
- Always suggest one concrete next step at session end
- When the user is overwhelmed, help pick ONE thing
- Celebrate progress — remind what was accomplished
- Never present overwhelming lists
- Keep the barrier to entry low
Open Questions
1. Wins in Briefing
Question: Should /briefing include a “wins this week” section?
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| A) Yes, add wins section | Weekly progress summary in briefing |
| B) No, keep briefing factual | Briefing stays purely informational |
Recommendation: Option A - Reinforces positive momentum.
Decision:
2. Current Focus Marker
Question: Should there be a persistent “current focus” marker somewhere?
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| A) Frontmatter field in a vault file | Persistent, queryable |
| B) Infer from in-progress FRs | No extra mechanism needed |
Recommendation: Option B - Less overhead, already have in-progress FRs.
Decision:
3. Measuring Effectiveness
Question: How to measure if this actually helps?
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| A) Track session frequency | More sessions = more momentum |
| B) Subjective user feedback | Ask periodically |
Recommendation: Option B - Simplest, most direct signal.
Decision:
Phase Overview
| Phase | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | CLAUDE.md behavioral rules | partial |
| Phase 2 | Progress tracking + briefing integration | — |
Phase 1: Behavioral Rules — partial
Goal: Establish motivation support rules in CLAUDE.md.
| File / Feature | Details | Owner | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
CLAUDE.md momentum rules | 5 rules for motivation support | opus | partial (2/5 remain) |
vault/20_knowledge/personal/fears-and-doubts.md | Capture fears in knowledge base | opus | deleted |
| Test across sessions | Verify Claude follows the rules | mv | — |
Result: Only 2 of 5 rules survived in CLAUDE.md (“suggest next action when stuck”, “no overwhelming lists”). Missing: celebrate progress, session-end next step, help pick ONE thing. fears-and-doubts.md was deleted at some point.
Phase 2: Active Support — —
Goal: Add active progress tracking and briefing integration.
| File / Feature | Details | Owner | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ”Wins” section in briefing | Weekly progress summary | opus | — |
| Current focus marker | Persistent indicator of what to work on next | opus | — |
| Session end next-step file | Auto-write next step to inbox at session end | opus | — |
Prerequisites / Gap Analysis
Requirements
| Requirement | Description |
|---|---|
| REQ-1 | CLAUDE.md momentum rules exist |
| REQ-2 | /briefing skill available for Phase 2 integration |
Current State
| Component | Status | Details |
|---|---|---|
| CLAUDE.md momentum rules | partial | 2/5 rules remain — 3 were lost |
| Fears documented | deleted | fears-and-doubts.md no longer exists |
/briefing skill | — | Not yet available for integration |
Gap (What’s missing?)
| Gap | Effort | Blocker? |
|---|---|---|
/briefing skill for wins integration | Med | No |
| Session end automation for next-step file | Med | No |
Test
Manual tests
| Test | Expected | Actual | Last |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tell Claude you are overwhelmed | Helps pick one single next action | pending | - |
| Ask Claude to list everything that needs to be done | Prioritizes ruthlessly, no huge list | pending | - |
| Complete a significant task | Claude acknowledges the progress | pending | - |
| End a session | Claude suggests one concrete next step | pending | - |
| Say “I don’t know where to start” | Claude gives a small, concrete suggestion | pending | - |
AI-verified tests
| Scenario | Expected behavior | Verification method |
|---|---|---|
| … | … | … |
E2E tests
| Scenario | Assertion |
|---|---|
| … | … |
Integration tests
| Component | Coverage |
|---|---|
| … | … |
Unit tests
| Component | Tests | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| … | … | … |
History
| Date | Event | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-02-26 | Created | Born from user’s fear of quitting |
| 2026-02-26 | Phase 1 rules added to CLAUDE.md | 5 motivation support rules |
| 2026-02-26 | Updated status | Reflect CLAUDE.md rules implementation |
| 2026-03-16 | Review & update | 3/5 CLAUDE.md rules missing, fears-and-doubts.md deleted — Phase 1 marked partial |
References
vault/20_knowledge/personal/fears-and-doubts.md— origin of this feature