A staff engineer's journey with Claude Code

1) Don't ask for large / complex change. Ask for a plan but ask it to implement the plan in small steps and ask the model to test each step before starting the next.

2) For really complex steps, ask the model to write code to visualize the problem and solution.

3) If the model fails on a given step, ask it to add logging to the code, save the logs, run the tests and the review the logs to determine what went wrong. Do this repeatedly until the step works well.

4) Ask the model to look at your existing code and determine how it was designed to implement a task. Some times the model will put all of the changes in one file but your code has a cleaner design the model doesn't take into account.

I've seen other people blog about their tricks and tips. I do still see garbage results but not as high as 95%.

Most users will just give a vague tasks like: "write a clone of Steam" or "create a rocket" and then they blame Claude Code.

If you want AI to code for you, you have to decompose your problem like a product owner would do. You can get helped by AI as well, but you should have a plan and specifications.

Once your plan is ready, you have to decompose the problem into different modules, then make sure each modules are tested.

The issue is often with the user, not the tool, as they have to learn how to use the tool first.

This seems like half of HN with how much HN hates AI. Those who hate it or say it’s not useful to them seem to be fighting against it and not wanting to learn how to use it. I still haven’t seen good examples of it not working even with obscure languages or proprietary stuff.