I agree with most of this, though I'm not sure it's radically different. I think most people who've been using CC in earnest for a while probably have a similar workflow? Prior to Claude 4 it was pretty much mandatory to define requirements and track implementation manually to manage context. It's still good, but since 4.5 release, it feels less important. CC basically works like this by default now, so unless you value the spec docs (still a good reference for Claude, but need to be maintained), you don't have to think too hard about it anymore.

The important thing is to have a conversation with Claude during the planning phase and don't just say "add this feature" and take what you get. Have a back and forth, ask questions about common patterns, best practices, performance implications, security requirements, project alignment, etc. This is a learning opportunity for you and Claude. When you think you're done, request a final review to analyze for gaps or areas of improvement. Claude will always find something, but starts to get into the weeds after a couple passes.

If you're greenfield and you have preferences about structure and style, you need to be explicit about that. Once the scaffolding is there, modern Claude will typically follow whatever examples it finds in the existing code base.

I'm not sure I agree with the "implement it all without stopping" approach and let auto-compact do its thing. I still see Claude get lazy when nearing compaction, though has gotten drastically better over the last year. Even so, I still think it's better to work in a tight loop on each stage of the implementation and preemptively compacting or restarting for the highest quality.

Not sure that the language is that important anymore either. Claude will explore existing codebase on its own at unknown resolution, but if you say "read the file" it works pretty well these days.

My suggestions to enhance this workflow:

- If you use a numbered phase/stage/task approach with checkboxes, it makes it easy to stop/resume as-needed, and discuss particular sections. Each phase should be working/testable software.

- Define a clear numbered list workflow in CLAUDE.md that loops on each task (run checks, fix issues, provide summary, etc).

- Use hooks to ensure the loop is followed.

- Update spec docs at the end of the cycle if you're keeping them. It's not uncommon for there to be some divergence during implementation and testing.