1
BUILD WITH PURPOSE
Know why we are building it, who it helps and what better looks like. If we cannot answer that sensibly, question the build.
Why it made the cut: Purpose keeps cheap-to-create software from becoming pointless software.
THE NINE PRINCIPLES
2
TELL THE TRUTH
Be honest about capability, uncertainty, progress, failure, limits, cost, risk and whether our product is genuinely the best answer.
Why it made the cut: Every trustworthy product decision depends on an accurate view of reality.
3
EARN TRUST
Trust has value. Losing it has a cost. Build it through useful behaviour, clear decisions and honesty when things go wrong.
Why it made the cut: AI makes creation cheaper, which makes knowing what and whom to trust more valuable.
4
REMOVE COMPLEXITY FROM THE HUMAN
Let software absorb naming, filing, plumbing and routine choices. Keep consequences and meaningful decisions visible.
Why it made the cut: Humans should spend their attention on the judgement only humans can add.
5
PRESERVE MEANINGFUL HUMAN JUDGEMENT
Let AI help freely with low-risk, reversible work. Keep humans appropriately involved in ambiguity, professional judgement and consequential action.
Why it made the cut: Removing pointless approvals is useful. Removing responsibility is not.
6
BUILD WHAT WE NEED. USE WHAT WE BUILD.
Start with real irritation, build a better answer, use it ourselves, find where it is rubbish and improve it.
Why it made the cut: Real use is stronger evidence than imaginary personas and speculative feature empires.
7
SIMPLE BEFORE CLEVER
Prefer fewer tools, dependencies, settings, clicks, concepts and handoffs. Use clever technology only when it removes real complexity.
Why it made the cut: Plumbing is a means, not the product and certainly not a religion.
8
MAKE SOMETHING USEFUL HAPPEN
Software should create forward motion. Keep asking what should happen next, not what else the dashboard could display.
Why it made the cut: The Ideas Shed exists to turn ideas into action, not software theatre.
9
SERIOUS SOFTWARE. DASH OF SILLINESS.
Make the interface human, warm and memorable. Keep the engineering reliable, accessible and professionally sound underneath.
Why it made the cut: Personality helps people engage. It must never be an excuse for sloppy software or hidden truth.
NO CASUAL PRINCIPLE 11
There is no prize for reaching ten. A proposed new Principle must be genuinely fundamental and not already covered.
Otherwise it should become a Rule, replace something weaker, or merge with something already here.
Principles stay difficult to add. Rules remain free to evolve through real builds.