constraint-awarenesslisted

# Constraint Awareness ## Coverage Theory-of-Constraints (Goldratt) applied to the cost-structure inversion of AI-assisted software development. Identifies the constraint as the human activity that cannot be delegated to an agent — review, validation, decision-making, learning. Walks the Five Focusing Steps (Identify, Exploit, Subordinate, Elevate, Repeat) and shows how each step maps to a team operating multiple coding agents. Names the four constraint-aware process-design rules: front-load agent work and back-load human judgment; batch constraint touches; present options + recommendation rather than open questions; eliminate false dependencies on the constraint by promoting recurring questions into rules or skills. Catalogs five anti-patterns (unnecessary questions, spawning without consent, summaries nobody reads, over-engineering with maintenance debt, circular discussions). Specifies attention-audit ratios for measuring constraint health. Explains the constraint-shift model — that the bottleneck moves over time as agent autonomy improves, from review bandwidth → strategic decisions → user research → market timing — and that the focusing steps must restart when it does. ## Philosophy Most AI-coding systems fail not because the agents are incapable, but because they waste the one resource that cannot be scaled: the human operator's attention. Without explicit constraint-awareness, agents treat all tasks as equal-priority, interrupt the operator with questions they coul