For anything larger than a small fix, ask for a plan first. The agent writes out what it intends to do, and you get to argue with the plan instead of with the diff — which is a much cheaper argument.
Plans arrive as a proper screen, not a wall of chat text. You can read the steps, comment on the ones you disagree with, and send it back for another pass before anything is built.
To Do
Once work is underway, To Do tracks what the agent has completed and what is still ahead. On a long task it is the fastest way to answer "how far has it got" without reading the whole conversation.