Principles

These principles guide my choices. I test them against use, constraints, and results. Their wording can evolve with experience.

Scope

A claim should keep its conditions and limits visible. An observation describes what was seen, in a particular context and at a particular time.

Responsibility

A responsibility should have an identifiable owner. Its rules, data, and operations should be understandable together.

Intervention

A repeated intervention deserves an examination of its cause. Judgment, trade-offs, and authorization also have a place in a system.

Cost

An abstraction should justify its cost through a concrete need. Checks, tests, and procedures deserve the same scrutiny.

Recovery

A system should make explicit what it preserves, what it may lose, and how it recovers. Those conditions should be exercised.

Revision

A decision should be understandable and open to reconsideration. I preserve its reasons and what could call them into question.

Simplicity

I seek a structure sufficient for the present need. I keep the option of removing what has served its purpose.

A reconsideration

On September 25, 2026, this page replaces “Axioms.” It clarifies the scope of my requirements and the role of human judgment. Earlier notes retain their dates; later reconsiderations are marked.