When to use it

You’re about to pause work that you’ll resume later or hand off to someone, and you want to avoid losing your place. The signal is when you close your laptop and know that tomorrow (or next week) you’ll need to figure out where you left off. It also works when you pass the ball to a colleague: a well-written resumption document saves half a day of realignment.

What you need

• An AI assistant (ChatGPT, Claude, or whatever you normally use)
• The work in progress: the files you’re working on, scattered notes, half-finished drafts
• 5 minutes before you stop working

That’s it. No special format needed: the assistant transforms your messy notes into a document that gets anyone back up to speed.

The steps

1. Gather where you left off

Before asking the assistant, jot down in two lines what you’ve done and what’s missing. It doesn’t need to be organized: the assistant will organize it. Just hit the high points: what works, what doesn’t, what you’ve discovered.

2. Ask for the resumption document

Open your assistant and use this prompt, attaching your files and notes:

I’m about to pause this work. Write me a resumption document that lets me (or a colleague) pick it up in a few minutes without re-explaining the context.

Include:

• The OBJECTIVE of the final work
• The CURRENT STATE: what’s done (with ✅) and what’s missing
• DECISIONS already made and why
• PITFALLS to avoid: mistakes already made, false leads, things that seem obvious but aren’t
• The NEXT STEP to take (just one, the most obvious)

Work in progress: [attach files or paste notes here]

3. Check the pitfalls section

The most important section is pitfalls. If the assistant skipped it or filled it with platitudes (“remember to save”), rewrite it yourself by hand. Real pitfalls are things you’ve already tried that didn’t work, or details that seem irrelevant but change everything.

4. Save the document next to your work

Put the document in the same folder as the files you were working on, with a recognizable name: RESUME.md or resume-<date>.md. When you reopen the folder, you’ll see it immediately.

5. When you resume, ask the assistant to pick up from there

Reopen your assistant (even a new conversation) and use this prompt:

Below is the resumption document for work I left halfway through. Read it and tell me you understand where we are, then help me complete the next step.

[paste the resumption document]

The assistant confirms what it’s understood, and you’re ready to move forward.

A complete example

You’re using material from the course /materials/invoices.csv: you’re analyzing quarterly invoices, you’ve checked part of them, found three errors, and need to pause for a meeting.

Step 1: Your scattered notes are:

• Checked the CSV, found 3 errors: invoice 103 (wrong amount), 107 (wrong date), 112 (wrong customer)
• Still 15 rows left to verify
• Goal: deliver the report by Friday

Step 2: Open your assistant and use the prompt from step 2, attaching invoices.csv and your notes.

Expected assistant output:

WORK RESUMPTION DOCUMENT

OBJECTIVE

Complete the analysis of quarterly invoices and deliver the report by Friday.

CURRENT STATE

• ✅ CSV file checked (first 35 of 50 rows)
• ✅ 3 errors identified:
  • Invoice 103: wrong amount
  • Invoice 107: wrong date
  • Invoice 112: wrong customer
• ⏳ 15 rows remaining to verify (rows 36 to 50)

DECISIONS MADE

• Found errors must be reported to accounting before closing the report
• Verification proceeds row by row, no automated script (too many anomalies)

PITFALLS

• Invoice 107 looked like just a date format error, but checking carefully it’s actually the wrong date (March instead of April)
• Don’t trust the totals in the CSV footer: they’re calculated before error corrections

NEXT STEP

Check rows 36 to 50 in the CSV for other errors of the same type.

Step 3: Review the pitfalls: they’re concrete and describe things you discovered while working. Keep them.

Step 4: Save the document as resume-invoices.md in the same folder as the CSV.

Step 5 (tomorrow): Reopen your assistant and use the prompt from step 5, pasting the document. The assistant confirms it understands where you are and helps you complete the last 15 rows.

Common mistakes

Skipping pitfalls. It’s the section that saves the most time, but many leave it empty or vague. If the assistant doesn’t fill it well, write it yourself: “I tried X, it doesn’t work because Y,” “Watch out: Z seems obvious but isn’t.”

Document too long. A resumption document fits on one page. If it’s longer, there’s too much unnecessary context: remove what you don’t need for the next step.

Vague next step. “Continue the analysis” won’t cut it. “Check rows 36-50 in the CSV for date and amount errors” will.

The team version

When handing work to a colleague, add this line to the prompt from step 2:

This document is for a colleague unfamiliar with the context. Add a WHO TO CONTACT section with names of people responsible for blocked decisions.

The document becomes a real handoff: whoever receives it knows where you are, what you’ve done, and who to call if they hit a snag. Save the document in a shared folder and notify the colleague with a direct message: “Everything’s here, let me know if anything’s unclear.”

If your team already uses a handoff system (like the template in /materials/builder/handoff.md), the resumption document becomes the “Current State” section of the handoff: the assistant fills it in automatically.