05 / Handoffs
Compaction
A handoff done by summarising the session so far and starting fresh from the summary. It buys room and loses detail, and you rarely find out which detail until later.
How you’ll hear it
“It summarised our conversation and kept going.”
“That was compaction. Check what it dropped.”
Avoid
Assuming a summary kept everything important.
The longer version
Compaction replaces a long session with a summary and carries on from there. It frees space and loses detail, and you rarely know which detail until it matters. For important work, write the summary yourself or check it.