executing-handoff-planslisted

# Executing Handoff Plans ## Overview Execution is not implementation. Implementation is writing code. Execution is following a plan while writing code. The difference is discipline: writing code that solves the problem in the way the team agreed upon, documented, and will later audit against. The defining rule: **flag deviations, don't improvise.** When reality diverges from the plan — a file has moved, a dependency behaves differently, a pattern in the codebase contradicts the plan's assumption — the correct response is to log the deviation and pause. Not to figure it out. Not to pick the option that seems reasonable. Log it, describe it precisely, and wait for the author to decide. Unlogged decisions are invisible decisions, and invisible decisions cannot be reviewed, audited, or learned from. This skill works whether you wrote the plan yourself or picked it up from someone else. The rules are identical. Executing someone else's plan is the better test of execution discipline — you cannot fall back on "I know what I meant." You only have what the plan says. ## Process ### Before Starting Do not begin execution until all four preconditions are satisfied. Skipping any of them is how execution goes sideways in the first hour. **1. Read the plan in full.** Read from the first task to the last, including acceptance criteria, edge cases, and any appendix. Do not start at task 1 without reading to the end. Step 8 may constrain how you approach step 2. An edge case docume