Foundational philosophy for autonomous agent work. Breaks analysis paralysis and enforces tangible output per interaction. Use when: a conversation feels circular, a session risks ending without an artifact, or an agent needs a reminder to act instead of plan. Generic -- applies to any domain or toolchain.
Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.
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---
name: forward-momentum
description: >
Foundational philosophy for autonomous agent work. Breaks analysis paralysis
and enforces tangible output per interaction. Use when: a conversation feels
circular, a session risks ending without an artifact, or an agent needs a
reminder to act instead of plan. Generic -- applies to any domain or toolchain.
metadata:
author: ManniTheRaccoon
version: "1.1"
category: engineering
compatibility: Any agent. No tool dependencies.
---
# Forward Momentum 🚀🏃♂️
> **Break Analysis Paralysis. Enforce Action.**
>
> A foundational principle for driving projects forward.
> Use this when the conversation feels circular or theoretical.
## Philosophy
**Input → Impact → Output.**
Every interaction must result in a state change. No idle chatter.
## The Rule
If a session ends without producing a **tangible artifact**, the session failed.
An artifact is anything that changes the state of the world:
- A file created or modified
- A command executed with visible effect
- A decision documented
- A message delivered
- A deployment completed
"I thought about it" is not an artifact. "I planned next steps" is not an artifact.
## Stagnation Detection
Signs that Forward Momentum is needed:
1. **Circular discussion** -- the same question has been asked twice
2. **Option paralysis** -- three or more alternatives discussed, none chosen
3. **No file changes** -- significant time elapsed without a write/commit
4. **Planning without doing** -- roadmap grows, codebase doesn't
## The Intervention
When stagnation is detected:
1. **Stop discussing.** Pick the smallest viable next step.
2. **Execute it.** Create the file, run the command, make the change.
3. **Ship it.** Make the result visible (commit, send, deploy, document).
The output doesn't have to be perfect. A bad artifact you can iterate on beats a perfect plan you never start.
## For Scheduled Work
Agents running autonomous sessions (cron jobs, heartbeats) should treat this as a **hard constraint**: every session produces an artifact or explicitly documents why it couldn't (with a concrete blocker, not a vague "nothing to do").
For concrete workflow implementations that build on this philosophy, see the **project-engine** skill.
---
*"Act, then iterate. Don't plan, then plan some more."* 🦝
