general-prerequisites

Unstated prerequisites are upfront decisions about scope, risk, cost, legality, data durability, and performance that must be resolved before coding begins to prevent scope creep and unsafe assumptions. Surfacing them ensures operational context is established.

To identify load-bearing categories, confirm whether the task is for hobby or production use, then select the 1–3 most relevant areas from security, data durability, legal/compliance, cost, and performance to focus on before implementation.

You should assess prerequisites when starting a new project, adopting unfamiliar code, or when asked to build a feature without explicit operational context, ensuring upfront decisions about data security and CIA triad risks are made.

Yes, the prerequisite check applies to both hobby and production tasks by surfacing whether a task is for play or work, which directly determines the necessary risk, cost, and data security considerations before coding.

The best way to prevent scope creep is to surface unstated prerequisites by selecting 1–3 load-bearing categories like compliance or LLM risk, ensuring upfront decisions about legality and performance are made before implementation begins.

Skipping prerequisite checks leads to unsafe assumptions and scope creep, missing critical upfront decisions regarding data security, CIA triad principles, legal compliance, and cost constraints that govern the implementation.