aeondave/design-before-implementation

Design Before Implementation

Do not optimize the wrong plan. A short design prevents long rework.

Hard gate

Before implementation, produce a design summary and get explicit or clearly implied approval unless the user gave exact step-by-step instructions or the change is a trivial single-edit fix.

Design workflow

1. Context scan: inspect current structure, conventions, and constraints.
2. Scope check: split work that contains independent subsystems or targets.
3. Clarify intent: ask only the missing questions that affect design, safety, or data integrity.
4. Options: present 2-3 viable approaches with tradeoffs and a recommendation.
5. Design summary: architecture, data/control flow, touched areas, testing, risks, non-goals.
6. Review gate: resolve ambiguity, TODOs, contradictions, and scope creep before planning.

Offensive and research focus

• Restate scope, allowed actions, noise/destructive limits, and evidence requirements.
• Prefer the smallest viable technique chain before expanding tooling.
• Separate reconnaissance, exploitability, tooling, validation, and reporting decisions.
• Stop when verification would require access or actions outside the approved boundary.

Output shape

• Goal: one sentence.
• Non-goals: what this will not do.
• Approach: recommended option and why.
• Interfaces/artifacts: files, commands, reports, APIs, or evidence outputs.
• Validation: how success and failure will be proven.
• Open questions: only blockers or meaningful tradeoffs.

Resources

Load on demand:

• references/design-gates.md — spec review checklist and common design failure modes.