# What Was the Next Step? Write It Down Before You Stop

> You open a project and can't remember what you were about to do. The one-line habit that fixes it, and how to write a next step an AI agent can act on.

- URL: https://shotmatic.app/blog/always-write-the-next-step
- Category: Project Management
- Published: 2026-10-06
- Author: Tu Nguyen

## Key takeaways

- The most expensive moment in a project is starting again without knowing what to do next.
- Before you stop, write one next step: a concrete action, small enough to start in five minutes.
- Good next steps start with a verb and name the thing: 'write captions for 3 screenshots', not 'listing stuff'.
- Keep it in the repo, next to the code, so both you and the agent see it at the start of the next session.

You sit down, open the project, and look at the code. You know it was going well yesterday. You were close
to something. But what, exactly, were you about to do?

Twenty minutes later you've re-read the last three commits and half a chat, and you're still not sure.

This is part 2 of **No Process**. [Part 1](https://shotmatic.app/blog/no-process-just-prompts) laid out the minimum process. This
part is about the smallest piece of it — and the one that saves the most time.

## The costliest moment is the restart

Most work doesn't get lost while you're doing it. It gets lost in the gap between stopping and starting again.
At the moment you stop, you know exactly what's next. Ten hours later, that knowledge is gone.

The fix costs thirty seconds: **before you stop, write the next step down.**

## What a good next step looks like

A next step is not a goal and not a to-do list. It's one action you could start in five minutes:

| Vague (doesn't help) | Concrete (does) |
|---|---|
| Work on listing | Write captions for the 3 screenshots |
| Fix bugs | Reproduce the crash when the bill is 0 |
| Chapter 7 | Draft section 2 of chapter 7 from the outline |
| Ads | Test the rewarded ad on a real device |

Three rules make it concrete:

1. **Start with a verb.** Write, test, reproduce, draft, send.
2. **Name the thing.** Which screenshots, which crash, which section.
3. **Small enough to start without thinking.** If you'd need to plan first, the plan is the next step.

## Keep it where the work is

A next step in a notebook or a separate app is one more thing to open. Keep it in the repo, in the same state
file as the phase — the idea from [phases, not to-do lists](https://shotmatic.app/blog/phases-not-todo-lists):

```text
Phase: 5/6 — store listing
Next:  write captions for the 3 screenshots
```

Now it's the first thing you see — and the first thing the agent reads. It's exactly the line you'd otherwise
have to [re-explain to the AI](https://shotmatic.app/blog/stop-re-explaining-your-project-to-ai).

## Let the agent write it, you check it

At the end of a session, ask: *"Update the next step in the state file."* Agents are good at this — they know
what they just finished. Your job is a five-second check: could you start that step tomorrow without thinking?
If not, ask for something smaller.

## One next step, not five

It's tempting to write the next five steps. Don't. A list turns back into a backlog, and a backlog doesn't
tell you where to start. One step. When it's done, write the next one.

## Where ShotMatic fits

ShotMatic shows the next step of every task right in its line on the board, next to its phase, across all your
repos. Your agent keeps it in `progress.json`; you see it the moment you open the app.

## FAQ

**What is a next action in project management?**

The single, concrete, physical step that moves a project forward — small enough that you know exactly how to start it.

**How do I remember where I left off in a coding project?**

Write the next step down before you stop, in a file in the repo. Reading one line is faster and more reliable than trying to remember.

**Should the AI agent write the next step?**

Yes. End each session by asking the agent to update the next step. Then review it — if you can't start it in five minutes, ask for a smaller one.