First Principles

Strip assumed constraints to independently supported primitives, then rebuild. Escape analogy when convention fails or looks artificially expensive.

When to Use

• A constraint is treated as fixed ("too expensive," "impossible," "always done this way") without independent support.
• Convention or analogy has failed, stalled, or only yields weak incremental variants.
• Greenfield design where industry defaults may smuggle false requirements.
• Cost or feasibility claims rest on pricing, precedent, or authority rather than physics, math, or measured need.

When NOT to Use

• The constraint is verified physics, hard regulation, or measured capacity → accept it and optimize within it.
• A proven standard library, protocol, or known-good pattern already fits → use it; do not re-derive.
• Time-critical incidents → act on the most likely cause first; reserve first-principles rebuild for post-incident redesign.
• Incremental polish of a working system with no false-constraint signal → skip.

Procedure