A partially completed task must say how far it got and whether cleanup is needed

What it is

Failure rarely happens before the first step. Earlier steps may already have changed the world. If escalation only names the gap, a person who fills the gap and continues will step on undeclared wreckage. Partial failure states progress and cleanup: which were done, which are half, which took effect outward, whether to roll back before continuing.

A “resume from failure” button assumes by default that what came before is clean. Without a list, the assumption is a bet.

Why it happens

The three columns of an ask answer how to continue; the cleanup list answers whether to reverse first. The two packets do not ask the same thing. An object list after abort is wreckage for the person who stopped; this entry binds wreckage into the escalation, because the person who receives the ask is often not the one who hit abort, and may not have the process view. Miss cleanup, and the next hand treats “the mail that went” as not yet sent, or a half-written file as blank to overwrite.

Retries lengthen wreckage. The list at escalation must be current values after retries, not a snapshot of the first failure.

Studying it

Let the agent fail after one outward step. Compare: escalation without steps already done, with steps done but not marked roll-backable, with steps done and a cleanup suggestion. Dependent variables: whether people clean before continuing, whether they repeat an outward act, whether wreckage is overwritten as blank. Independent variables: whether the person receiving the ask watched the process, whether cleanup can be one-clicked.

The primary endpoint is repeating outward. If they repeat, progress was not read as world state.

Where it stops holding

If failure happens before any world change, cleanup is empty, but “no acts in effect” must still be written explicitly, so people do not hunt wreckage that is not there. How the object list is presented (how half is written) belongs to partial-completion state; this entry requires that the escalation packet contain that list, with a suggestion of whether to clean. The gap columns are how to continue; do not stuff cleanup into the “what is missing” column.

Applying it

• Attach object-level progress to the escalation packet: done / half / not yet, mark outward-in-effect on its own, and suggest “roll these back first.” Without an explicit sentence “nothing in effect,” the packet is incomplete.
• Continue and cleanup are two acts. Forbid a single “resume from failure” from running before cleanup is confirmed.
• Check: succeed one outward step, then fail, and give the escalation to someone who did not watch. If they go outward again, progress is missing from the packet. After adding a cleanup suggestion, the first act should be roll back or an explicit keep, not continue.

Related

• Same group: L4.13.1 When an agent cannot finish, it should escalate rather than cover with an approximation · L4.13.2 Escalation must say which step is stuck and what is needed; a failure report alone cannot be handled · L4.13.3 Retrying without escalating consumes resources and delays human intervention · L4.13.5 The later the escalation, the longer the execution history a person must reconstruct
• Nearby: L4.05 Interruptibility and Rollback · L4.04 Takeover and Handoff Design · L4.12 Task Progress and Intermediate-state Visibility
• Search terms: partial failure · cleanup · escalation