After using Claude Code heavily in real engineering work, a few workflow changes made a much bigger difference than prompt engineering ever did:
- Stop using one agent for everything I moved to specialized agents for planning, debugging, and implementation. A planner thinks differently from a debugging assistant, and treating them the same leads to inconsistent results.
- MCP becomes powerful when tied to actual workflows For a recent AWS deployment, I used MCPs across JIRA, Jenkins, AWS, Datadog, and Notion to keep work inside Claude instead of constantly context-switching between tools.
- Plan mode > blind implementation New feature? Start in Plan mode. Implementation? Auto-accept works fine once the plan is solid. Debugging? Stay in Normal mode unless you enjoy mysterious edits and “creative” fixes.
- Context management matters Long sessions degrade quality. I now use /compact , /clear , and separate sessions for unrelated workstreams. Treat Claude sessions like git branches — scoped and intentional. The biggest lesson: Claude Code works best as a workflow multiplier, not an autopilot. submitted by /u/ostwal
Originally posted by u/ostwal on r/ClaudeCode
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