Here's a pattern I noticed - you notice some pattern that is working (let's say planning or TODO management) - if the pattern is indeed solid then it gets integrated into the black box and your agent starts doing that internally. At which point your abstraction on top becomes defective because agents get confused about planning the planning.

So with the top performers I think what's most effective is just stating clearly what the end result you want to be (with maybe some hints for verification of results which is just clarifying the intent more)