Twitter/X

After 1,000 hours using Claude Code, Tom Crawshaw stopped running one long…

Brief

Tom Crawshaw lists five non-technical habits he abandoned after 1,000 hours in Claude Code: stop running sessions until they die (use handoff.md and start fresh), avoid vague "make it better" prompts, stop line-by-line watching, fix skills immediately to prevent repeat errors, and require an approved plan before building.

Why it matters

After 1,000 hours using Claude Code, Tom Crawshaw stopped running one long session until it degraded — he now ends sessions early, creates a handoff.md, and starts a fresh session because compacting didn't save quality.

Key details

  • He stopped vague prompts like "make it better" (now specifies what "better" means), stopped reading every line of output (reviews finished artifacts), and immediately updates skills when a mistake occurs so it never repeats.
  • He requires an approved plan before building; these five behavioral changes (not technical fixes) cost him hundreds of hours to learn and are intended to save time going forward.
Source evidence

5 things I stopped doing in Claude Code after 1,000 hours.

1 - Running one session until it died. The longer it goes the worse it gets, and compacting doesn't save it. Now I end it early, create a handoff.md file and start a fresh session.

2 - Saying "make it better". Better isn't an instruction. Now I say what better actually means before Claude touches anything.

3 - Reading every line it wrote. I was watching it work instead of checking what it made. Now I look at the finished thing and I don't caret oo much how it got there.

4 - Letting the same mistake happen twice. It'd make a call I didn't like, I'd correct it, and a week later it did the exact same thing. Now the moment I'm not happy with something I go and update the skill, so it doesn't repeat.

5 - Diving straight in. I'd have an idea and just start telling it what to do. Now nothing gets built until there's a plan that I've approved.

Every one of those has cost me hundreds of hours on my journey but none of them are technical fixes.

Most people think they need to learn more.

Usually you need to stop doing about five things.

Anything else you want to add to that list?