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Subject Hygiene for Task Delegation

Nikola Balic (@nibzard)

Problem

When delegating work to subagents via the Task tool, empty or generic task subjects make conversations:

  • Untraceable: Cannot identify what a subagent was working on
  • Unreferencable: Cannot discuss specific subagent work later
  • Confusing: Multiple subagents with empty subjects are indistinguishable

From 48 Task invocations across 88 sessions, empty task subjects were identified as a major pain point.

Solution

Enforce clear, specific task subjects for every Task tool invocation. A good subject should:

  1. Not be empty (baseline requirement)
  2. Be specific and descriptive (what is being done)
  3. Be reference-able (can be discussed later)
  4. Follow naming conventions (imperative mood, clear target)

Examples:

❌ Bad subjects: - "" (empty) - "research" - "explore" - "task"

✅ Good subjects: - "Explore newsletter component implementation" - "Search for dark mode patterns in codebase" - "Analyze error handling in API routes" - "Find all OAuth configuration files"

flowchart LR A[Need to delegate] --> B{Subject clear?} B -->|No| C[Define specific subject] C --> D[Action verb + target] D --> E[Reference-able description] E --> F[Invoke Task tool] B -->|Yes| F F --> G[Subagent with clear identity] G --> H[Traceable conversation] H --> I[Discussable results] style C fill:#ffebee style D fill:#e8f5e9 style E fill:#e8f5e9 style G fill:#e8f5e9

How to use it

Before invoking Task tool, verify the subject meets all criteria:

  1. Length check: Minimum 3-4 words
  2. Action check: Starts with verb (Explore, Analyze, Search, Find)
  3. Target check: Specifies what is being acted upon
  4. Reference check: Could you point to this conversation later and say "the one that [subject]"?

Template for good subjects:

[Action Verb] + [Target/Scope] + [Optional Context]

Examples: - "Explore + newsletter component + implementation details" - "Search + codebase + for dark mode patterns" - "Analyze + API routes + error handling approach" - "Find + all OAuth + configuration files"

Anti-pattern prevention:

Prevents "Empty Subject Anti-Pattern" which makes conversations untraceable and subagent work indistinguishable.

Real-world impact:

From nibzard-web session with 4 parallel subagents: - agent-a7911db: "Newsletter component exploration" - agent-adeac17: "Modal pattern discovery" - agent-a03b9c9: "Search implementation research" - agent-b84c3d1: "Log page analysis"

Clear subjects enabled the main agent to synthesize findings from each subagent effectively.

Trade-offs

Pros:

  • Traceable subagent conversations
  • Reference-able work items
  • Clearer synthesis of parallel work
  • Better communication with user
  • Easier debugging of delegation issues

Cons:

  • Requires upfront thinking about subject
  • Longer subject strings (minor overhead)
  • No technical enforcement (requires discipline)

When it matters most:

  • Parallel subagent delegations (2+ agents)
  • Complex research tasks
  • Long-running subagent work
  • When user needs to review subagent output

References

Source: https://github.com/nibzard/SKILLS-AGENTIC-LESSONS