bcquality/custom/knowledge/architecture/one-task-in-progress-at-a-time.md

bc-version	domain	keywords	technologies	countries	application-area
all	architecture	one-task focus wip-limit lifecycle branch in-progress park	al	w1	all

One task in progress at a time

Description

A developer — and a Claude session — works on at most one task per repository at a time. Starting a task is an atomic sequence; nothing else starts until the task is finished or explicitly parked.

Starting a task means, in order:

1. Feature branch created in VS Code (named per the convention in [[git-lifecycle-must-sync-bc-status]])
2. BC subtask updated: gitHubDevStatus = "In Progress" (when a BC task exists — see [[development-requires-bc-task]])
3. Test case created and confirmed red (see [[testcase-must-fail-before-implementation]])
4. Implementation begins

Finishing a task means: test case green, feature branch merged to the declared track branch (see [[feature-branch-must-merge-to-track-branch]]), BC status Done.

Why

Half-finished work is the most expensive inventory a codebase carries. Two open tasks means two branches drifting, two test cases in unknown state, and a merge conflict being cultivated. The WIP limit of one is what makes the red→green gate meaningful: at any moment, the repo's state answers the question "what are we building right now?" with exactly one answer.

When new work arrives mid-task

"Hurtigt lige..." is the anti-pattern. The choice is binary:

Option	Action
Finish first	Complete the current task to green + merged, then start the new one
Park	BC status On Hold, commit or stash work-in-progress, then start the new one

What is never allowed: starting the new work on top of the open task's branch, or leaving the open task in In Progress while working on something else.

Exception — break-fix: a production error or broken build interrupts immediately and does not count as a second task. Fix, then return.

Anti Pattern

# Task A in progress, test still red
# "Hurtigt lige" request arrives:
git checkout -b feature/task-b        # Task A abandoned in limbo
# BC still says Task A "In Progress" — now a lie

Best Practice

# Park Task A explicitly:
#   BC: Task A gitHubDevStatus = "On Hold"
git add -A && git commit -m "[#8738] WIP: parked for urgent task B"
git checkout main && git checkout -b feature/DEV2023-00027-005-task-b
#   BC: Task B gitHubDevStatus = "In Progress"

Scope

All CURABIS repositories — customer apps and AppSource apps alike.