I wish I had read this piece before starting with Claude Code. A great deep dive into many levels (features) of using CC. The Plan Mode is definitely an under-utilized functionality!
What I appreciate here is that you are translating the tool into a progression people can actually see themselves entering.
That matters, especially for non-technical leaders who still hear “terminal” and feel their nervous system file a workplace incident report.
The strongest part for me is the shift from treating Claude Code like a smarter chatbot to treating it more like a team member with context, memory, rules, and repeatable workflows. That is where the real leverage starts to show up.
I also like that Levels 1 through 4 are framed as accessible now, not someday after a person earns their wizard beard. Plan first. Set the context. Build repeatable commands. Connect the workflow. That is a much saner and more useful way to teach this than jumping straight to full agentic fireworks.
Strong piece. You are helping people cross the intimidation gap without pretending the deeper setup work is optional.
The more thorough your brief, the fewer rounds of revision. That is not a lesson about AI. That is a lesson about leadership that most organisations have not yet learned about human teams either.
What I found is that setting it up well forced me to think harder about what I actually wanted, which is not a small thing. Most of us have spent years asking for things imprecisely and managing the gap afterward.
The level that interests me most is 7. Fully autonomous. Executes, verifies, refines until the work meets your standards. You define the acceptance criteria. The AI does the rest.
That is a leadership question before it is a technical one. Who decides what meeting your standards actually means? Who holds the judgment call at the boundary of good enough? The further the tool runs from your direct oversight, the more that question matters. Not because the tool cannot be trusted. Because the answer reveals what you actually value, which is often different from what you said you valued when you wrote the criteria.
Hi Joel, yes I have, and already wrote a few parts, but still floating ideas. I personally, take a long time to think about things before pass it to automation. I feel this is important and we want to leave our legacy, not something else.
What I’ve found that really moves the needle is when you use an MCP, and I love how you’re using email. I personally just connected to as many email accounts as I have, and when I pulled all my bills and receipts directly from Gmail without having to set up anything, it was just so joyful.
MCP, along with many other tools, is really game-changing. Each piece on its own looks pretty small and simple, but when you chain them together they become incredibly powerful. Just like how OpenClaw is doing.
By the way, the PowerPoint visuals look really beautiful.
"Plan Mode is the single most underused feature in Claude Code. Three minutes of planning saves hours of rework and gets you one-shot results consistently."
I wish I had read this piece before starting with Claude Code. A great deep dive into many levels (features) of using CC. The Plan Mode is definitely an under-utilized functionality!
Thanks! I wish I had had it too!
Fantastic article. Clear, detailed, and very informative. My challenge? Getting to learn a new program, but I think you sold me on trying!
Just take baby steps and see what you think :)
What I appreciate here is that you are translating the tool into a progression people can actually see themselves entering.
That matters, especially for non-technical leaders who still hear “terminal” and feel their nervous system file a workplace incident report.
The strongest part for me is the shift from treating Claude Code like a smarter chatbot to treating it more like a team member with context, memory, rules, and repeatable workflows. That is where the real leverage starts to show up.
I also like that Levels 1 through 4 are framed as accessible now, not someday after a person earns their wizard beard. Plan first. Set the context. Build repeatable commands. Connect the workflow. That is a much saner and more useful way to teach this than jumping straight to full agentic fireworks.
Strong piece. You are helping people cross the intimidation gap without pretending the deeper setup work is optional.
That was me for a loooong time, shying away from the dreaded terminal
Thanks for taking us on the journey with you
Breaking Claude Code into levels makes it so much more approachable. Really useful framing.
Thank you @Aniket Chhetri !
The more thorough your brief, the fewer rounds of revision. That is not a lesson about AI. That is a lesson about leadership that most organisations have not yet learned about human teams either.
What I found is that setting it up well forced me to think harder about what I actually wanted, which is not a small thing. Most of us have spent years asking for things imprecisely and managing the gap afterward.
The level that interests me most is 7. Fully autonomous. Executes, verifies, refines until the work meets your standards. You define the acceptance criteria. The AI does the rest.
That is a leadership question before it is a technical one. Who decides what meeting your standards actually means? Who holds the judgment call at the boundary of good enough? The further the tool runs from your direct oversight, the more that question matters. Not because the tool cannot be trusted. Because the answer reveals what you actually value, which is often different from what you said you valued when you wrote the criteria.
This is great, Diamantino! Have you considered writing that in a post? It’s great
Hi Joel, yes I have, and already wrote a few parts, but still floating ideas. I personally, take a long time to think about things before pass it to automation. I feel this is important and we want to leave our legacy, not something else.
That’s deep wisdom, go fast and break things doesn’t work well here
Sometimes a little pause, is enough to see where we are going...
Very timely article Joel. I am in level 1.5. Getting there!
That’s awesome!! That’s top 1% in the world probably
This is great, Joel!
What I’ve found that really moves the needle is when you use an MCP, and I love how you’re using email. I personally just connected to as many email accounts as I have, and when I pulled all my bills and receipts directly from Gmail without having to set up anything, it was just so joyful.
MCP, along with many other tools, is really game-changing. Each piece on its own looks pretty small and simple, but when you chain them together they become incredibly powerful. Just like how OpenClaw is doing.
By the way, the PowerPoint visuals look really beautiful.
Appreciate the shout-out!
Yes! Exactly! I’m connected to the em and calendar of all my businesses. Soooo helpful
I love using this for slide decks
I was thinking about becoming a vibe coder. This article is a great starting point. Thank you.
"Plan Mode is the single most underused feature in Claude Code. Three minutes of planning saves hours of rework and gets you one-shot results consistently."
100% agree. it makes a huge difference!
Most people stop at the chatbot stage and miss the real value.