principle-experience-firstlisted

# Experience First The product is the experience. Every technical decision either helps or hurts it. When implementation convenience conflicts with user delight, choose delight. - Say no to 1,000 things (every feature, control, and option must earn its place) - Ship less, ship better (polished experience with three features beats rough one with ten) - Prototype before committing (the **exhaust-the-design-space** principle skill owns how) - Sweat the details (transitions, alignment, spacing, feedback, error states) - Tighten the core loop (every feature should serve the central workflow or get out of the way) This principle governs product tradeoffs where a human's experience is the target. The general rule that every surface serves its consumer, human or machine, is the **design-the-surface** principle skill. Foundations should serve the experience, not the other way around. Foundational thinking governs the *sequence* of work; this principle governs the *target*.