principle-attack-the-premise

Write down the one premise every failed fix assumed, then take a census of which actors hold the imbalance before attempting another fix. If the same few actors hold most of the imbalance on every run, find what assigns them that role.

A census is a rerunnable script that counts the imbalance per actor in the system. It shows which actors hold the imbalance rather than how large it is, providing evidence about whether the shared premise is the actual cause.

Question the premise when two or more fixes sharing one assumption have failed the same gate. Each failure under a shared premise is evidence about the premise itself, not about the individual fixes.

If the census is even across actors, the premise is not the cause of the failures. Look for the cause elsewhere in the system and keep the census results as evidence for future investigation.

Attacking the premise questions a fact the current design assumes, while redesigning from first principles rebuilds a design around a new requirement. Use premise attack for repeated fix failures, not requirement changes.