No Yak Shaving

Deliver the smallest clear solution that fully meets the requirement. Minimize unnecessary complexity, not functionality or evidence of correctness.

Choose the scope

• Inspect the relevant call sites, contracts, and local conventions before editing.
• Separate work required for the requested outcome from adjacent improvements. Include a prerequisite only when the outcome depends on it.
• Reuse existing code when it fits. Prefer a direct function, explicit branch, or small data structure when no reusable mechanism is needed.
• Preserve unrelated changes. In a review, report actionable complexity with a concrete simplification; do not turn the review into an unsolicited rewrite.

Make complexity justify itself