The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for coordinating communication medium state for subtasks. Embodiments of the invention use a received view of the contents of a message to produce a stream of subtask messages. Subtask message properties are each connected to the mechanism for performing the state coordination pattern on the original message. Subtask messages may each have the same message contents as the original message or may have message contents that vary according to the subtask. A message processor may then consume subtask messages from the subtask message stream and perform the state coordination pattern on each subtask message to reflect partial forward progress executing the original message. The outcome of the state coordination pattern for the original message is responsive to the collective outcomes of the state coordination patterns for the subtask messages.