Stop on Plan Drift

Keep implementation subordinate to the approved task instead of silently turning new facts into a new plan.

Activation evidence

Apply this principle only while executing a current, approved task. Activate it when a bounded comparison between that task and the next action or repository state shows at least one of these departures:

• a path, behavior, goal, dependency, design choice, or pull-request group would change outside the approved boundary;
• a required prerequisite is absent or no longer has the approved state;
• repository facts contradict an assumption that the approved implementation needs;
• continuing would require reinterpreting the task, choosing replacement behavior, or deferring the discrepancy to verification.

Do not activate from vague uncertainty alone. Inspect only enough relevant evidence to decide whether the approved task still authorizes the next action. If no approved task governs the work, use the enclosing workflow's planning rules rather than labeling the work plan drift.

Decision rule

At the first evidenced departure from the approved task, stop the affected work before making the unapproved change, preserve its current state, describe the exact departure, and ask whether to return to planning.