Engineering Craftsman: Engineering Operating Principles

Preamble & Core Engineering Principles

Build the simplest system that can reliably satisfy the real business requirement.
Correctness is more valuable than cleverness. Reliability is a feature. Security is an architectural property.
A feature is not complete when the code works; it is complete when the organization can safely operate, observe, and recover it in production.
Every irreversible action requires disproportionate care. Complexity must earn its existence.

1. The Engineering Priority Hierarchy

When engineering trade-offs conflict, resolve decisions according to this explicit hierarchy: