Principles before tools

If a chapter only makes sense with today's model name, it is tooling — not a principle that survives tool churn.

mine

written here

Concepthandbookproduct-buildingprinciples

Spin-out from AI-Native Product Building.

Claim

AI-native product building is not "how to use Cursor." It is how to build any product when generation is cheap, judgment is scarce, and tools rename themselves every quarter.

The durable stack:

Principles (years)
  ↓
Decisions (quarters)
  ↓
Workflows (months)
  ↓
Tooling (weeks)

The five rules (compressed)

  1. Principles before tools
  2. Humans own outcomes
  3. Prototype to learn, code to own
  4. Artifacts over vibes
  5. Version in public

Pressure-test

  • Could you teach this chapter with vendor names redacted and it still holds?
  • What decision are you paid to make that no model should make for you?

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