How to work incrementally

When I work on a complex software engineering problem, I like to rely on these three habits to keep my cognitive load low.

Slice and ship. Break the work into pieces small enough to merge on their own, ideally to ship to prod. Open branches drift from main and accumulate review debt.

Keep a personal knowledge page. As you research, write what you learn in your own words. Act as if you have no memory. A teammate, or your agent, should be able to pick it up and continue your work.

Keep a journal. End each session by writing your next action. If you drop the work for a night, a week, or a month, you can resume immediately.