Note / context recovery
What to do when you lose the thread of a ticket
You return to a ticket and find three tabs, a half-written note, and no memory of which assumption mattered. Recover the known state before you try to solve the whole thing again.
1. Write down what is known
Start with facts you can point at: the failing test, the command you ran, the file you changed, or the last result you saw. Do not start by rewriting the ticket into a perfect plan.
For example: “The worker test fails after the config change. Moving the fixture changed the error. The retry path is still untested.”
2. Separate the thread from the rest of the work
Put each fact, question, and possible next step on its own line. Mark the one line you can touch first. Put the rest in Later, Waiting, or Not part of this fix.
- Start here: a line you can inspect, run, compare, or write now.
- Later: relevant work that does not belong in this check.
- Waiting: blocked on a person, answer, branch, or external result.
- Not part of this fix: a tempting branch that does not explain the current failure.
3. Choose an observable check
“Understand the retry behavior” is a direction. “Open the failing test and read the first assertion” is a check. A check gives you a result that can change what you do next.
4. Stop when the check has an answer
Do not turn the first check into a new planning session. Run it, record what happened, and decide whether the thread is back in your hands. If not, write the new missing fact down instead of trusting yourself to reconstruct it later.
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