premise-checklisted

# Premise Check ## Why This Exists It's easy to treat a design request as unconditional — "user asked me to design X, so I'll design the best X I can." But the right answer is sometimes "X shouldn't exist." Without a deliberate check, effort flows into comprehensive designs that solve problems that are already handled, cost more than they're worth, or whose motivation evaporated when new evidence arrived. The most dangerous failure mode isn't building something wrong — it's building something unnecessary with conviction. ## When to Apply - Before investing in any design, plan, or architecture proposal - Before extending an existing system with significant new complexity - When new evidence (test results, research, changed requirements) arrives that relates to the motivation behind proposed or in-progress work - When you find yourself updating facts in a document without reassessing whether the document's conclusions still hold ## The Check Answer these three questions honestly before proceeding: 1. **Does the problem actually exist, or is it already solved?** Look at what's already in place. Check whether existing mechanisms already cover the gap. If the problem was hypothetical when the work was proposed, has it since been confirmed or disproven? 2. **Is the proposed solution proportional to the problem?** Compare the complexity, maintenance burden, and token/time cost of the solution against the severity and frequency of the problem. A rare edge case doesn't