Think First

Most people assume that with Claude Code and other AI tools, the first thing you need to do is type (or start talking). But that's probably one of the biggest mistakes that you can make straight off the bat. The first thing that you actually need to do is think.

Have a deep back and forth with ChatGPT/Gemini/Claude, where you describe exactly what you want to build, you ask the LLM for the various options you can take in terms of system design, and ultimately the two of you settle on a solution. You and the LLM should be asking each other questions, not just a one way street.

Before you ask Claude to build a feature, think about the architecture. Before you ask it to refactor something, think about what the end state should look like. Before you ask it to debug, think about what you actually know about the problem. The more information that you have in plan mode, the better your output is actually going to be because the better the input is going to be.

Keep it short.

Claude can only reliably follow around 150 to 200 instructions at a time, and Claude Code's system prompt already uses about 50 of those.

Tell it why, not just what. Claude is a little bit like a human in this way. When you give it the reason behind an instruction, Claude implements it better than if you just tell it what to do.

Update it constantly.

Press the # key while you're working and Claude will add instructions to your CLAUDE.md automatically.

Use external memory.

If you're working on something complex, have Claude write plans and progress to actual files (I use SCRATCHPAD.md or plan.md). These persist across sessions. When you come back tomorrow, Claude can read the file and pick up where you left off instead of starting from zero.

When Claude Gets Stuck

Simplify the task