principle-experience-first

Evaluate each feature against the core loop: every feature, control, and option must earn its place or be removed. Prefer shipping three polished features over ten rough ones, and cut anything that does not serve the central workflow.

It is a decision rule stating that when implementation convenience conflicts with user delight, you choose delight. The product is the experience, so every technical decision is judged by whether it helps or hurts that experience.

Yes. Design decisions are cheaper to test in throwaway HTML prototypes than in production code. Prototype first, validate the experience, then commit to implementation.

The user is whoever consumes the work: the end user for a UI, the colleague importing a library or internal API, and the engineer who maintains the code next. Weigh each one's experience and explain impact from their seat.

Foundational thinking governs the sequence of work while experience-first governs the target. Foundations should serve the experience, so sequence infrastructure work so it enables the polished end experience rather than blocking it indefinitely.