Ask it to explain what it built, in plain words

After Claude Code finishes a piece of a tool, I ask it to explain what it just did back to me in plain English, no code terms. If the explanation doesn't match what I asked for, something went sideways.

This one question catches a lot of drift early. Coding tools can build something that technically runs while quietly missing the point of your request. Hearing the plain explanation forces a translation step, and if you can't follow it, or it sounds off from what you pictured, that's your signal to stop and ask again before adding more on top of a shaky base.

Try this today: after your next coding session finishes a step, ask for a plain-English summary of what changed, then check it line by line against the description you wrote before you started.

• what changed
• why it changed
• what to test next