Run a plan with review points

A plan says what to do. A loop says when to stop and ask. You pick the steps where a person must look before work goes on, and the loop holds there until someone approves, asks for changes, or stops it. Everyone who can read the plan sees the same state, whether they work in their editor, in Coflow, or on the plan page.

When a loop helps

Use a loop when a plan crosses people: engineering builds, product checks the result, design signs off on what users see. Without one, the hand-offs live in chat threads and nobody knows which version was approved.

A loop is not needed for a plan you run alone from start to finish. A normal plan with tasks is enough there.

Starting a loop

Start from a saved plan. Say which steps need a review and who it is for: "run the billing plan as a loop; product reviews step three and design reviews the last step". You can also ask for a review after every step, after every few steps, or only at the end.

Each review point has:

• who it is for (engineering, product, design, or another team label);
• where you hear about it: ContextStream, Coflow, or both;
• how long it may wait before it is reported as overdue (24 hours unless you say otherwise).

A step can also carry a status report instead of a review: the loop tells the named people the step is done and keeps going. You can ask for a regular progress report too, for example every morning; it arrives whether the loop is running or waiting.

What a review does

When a step with a review is done, the loop stops and the review opens. You or your team see it in your editor's coordination notices and in Coflow's Plan loops view, with the step, who it is for, and a link to the plan.

• Approve. The loop goes on to the next step in the same pass. Approving never starts a new pass.
• Request changes. You must say what to change. A new pass starts at the step you sent back (or the steps you name), and your note is handed to whoever redoes the work, until the loop ends.
• Stop. The loop ends here.

A review is answered once. Answering it the same way again changes nothing; answering it differently is refused, so two reviewers cannot both decide.

A loop across three teams

An onboarding change has three steps: draft the copy, product review, publish. You say "run the onboarding plan as a loop, product reviews step two, report every morning". Engineering drafts the copy and the assistant marks step one done. After step two the loop stops: product sees "Review needed from product after step 2" in Coflow. The product lead asks for shorter copy. The loop starts its second pass at step two, and the assistant that picks it up gets the note "shorter copy" before it touches anything. Product approves the next version; publish runs; the loop completes in its second pass.

The morning report arrives each day while this happens. What the loop cannot do is decide the copy is good: that stays with the reviewer.

When the plan changes underneath

If someone edits the plan's steps while the loop runs, the loop does not keep going against steps that no longer exist. It stops and says the plan changed. Resume it when the new plan is the agreed path: steps that did not change keep their progress, edited or new steps start fresh, and a new pass begins.

A loop also stops when changes are requested after its last allowed pass (five unless you set another number). Resume it with more passes, or stop it.

What notices never contain

Notices and Coflow cards carry step titles, who the review is for, progress counts, and a link to the plan. They never carry file paths, code names, or diffs, even when a step's title mentions one: those parts are replaced. Review notes stay on the plan, which only people with access to the project can open.

If it doesn't work

The loop says a step is out of order. A loop takes steps in plan order. Finish the step it names, or ask what it is waiting on.

The loop is blocked because the plan changed. Check the edited steps are the agreed path, then say "resume the loop". If the edit was a mistake, put the step back and resume.

Nobody saw the review. Reviews go to ContextStream, Coflow, or both, depending on what you chose when you started the loop. Coordination must be on for the project to get ContextStream notices; Coflow shows every review in its Plan loops view either way.

Next

• Plans, tasks, and todos
• Handoffs
• Teams