RFD 1070: Keep options open
Problem
This repository wrote down three RFDs for a build nobody started. Each carried a reading cost, a cross-reference to keep current, and an index row, for an option nobody had exercised.
Decision
Do not open an RFD for a build this project has not committed to.
Kent Beck’s price-theory reading of YAGNI names the cost: an unexercised option costs twice if the guess is wrong, so a thing not yet committed to is worth more left unbuilt. Waiting holds an asset. It does not delay work.
The rule stops a new RFD from opening before commitment. It does not reach back into one already running.
See DETAILS.md for the three RFDs this rule removed, what made each speculative, and what the rule left in place.
References
- Kent Beck, “The Cost YAGNI Was Never About”: https://newsletter.kentbeck.com/p/the-cost-yagni-was-never-about