Two items can both look inactive while needing entirely different next actions. One may be waiting for someone. Another may be deliberately parked.
The practical check
Give each state a next-action meaning so people do not waste effort treating a deliberate pause as a forgotten task.
Where AI fits
AI can group inactive work and surface the evidence that distinguishes waiting from intentionally parked.
The human decision
People define the states and decide when work should resume, close, or remain paused.
The lesson
Inactive work needs a state that determines the next action: wait for an outside response, stay deliberately parked, or be brought back for a decision.
Waiting and deliberately parked items are given separate next-action states in the Build Log companion.
AI Skills
Use this lesson with the AI assistant you already use
Separate waiting, parked, and forgotten work with evidence and a human-owned next action.
Paste the prompt, share only the context needed to answer it, and treat the result as a draft for your review. Do not include confidential information or let an AI assistant make changes without your approval.
Optional: for a visual report and saved memory, run /dxdev first.
Don’t have it? Get it at dxdev.com/skills/dxdev. The prompt works without it.
dxdev LESSON · paste into your AI agent
LESSON: Give Inactive Work a Meaningful State
WHAT TO SHARE:
A de-identified description of the work, current evidence, and the decision you are considering.
ASK YOUR AGENT TO:
1. Separate confirmed facts from assumptions and unanswered questions.
2. Separate waiting, parked, and forgotten work with evidence and a human-owned next action.
3. Identify the narrowest useful next review step.
RETURN:
A short table with the evidence, uncertainty, human-owned decision, and next action.
BOUNDARY: Do not change records, contact anyone, route work, publish content, or act in an external system. A person must review the evidence and approve every consequential step.
