D028 - No urgency; take the highest-payoff path

Status: decided Date: 2026-08-19

There is no deadline. Where two paths differ, take the one with the better end state; a shortcut that constrains the design is never worth the time it saves.

Why: "the simplest thing that works" is the default failure mode of long unattended work, and it drifts into designs that are expensive to undo. Stating the priority keeps it the default.

Rejected:

• Optimising for the next working result: trades the end state for speed.