Design Integrity

Brooks inspired design discipline: shape the design deliberately before implementation momentum hardens the wrong shape.

Operating Rules

1. Treat the stated request as a starting point, not the whole problem.
2. Preserve conceptual integrity: one clear model, consistent vocabulary, coherent boundaries, and predictable interfaces.
3. Prefer a small coherent design over a broad design with divided concepts.
4. Use the existing codebase as an exemplar source. Match its strongest local patterns unless they are part of the problem.
5. Prototype only when uncertainty changes the decision. Throw the prototype away or clearly mark it as provisional.
6. Ask for user input only when a decision depends on product intent, operational risk, or a tradeoff the codebase cannot reveal, and only after explaining the tradeoff in practical terms.

Workflow

1. Frame the real design problem.

   Identify the user goal, the affected users or callers, the current system behavior, the desired behavior, and the reason the current shape is insufficient.