Skill: Elegance
"If it feels hard, you're fighting the abstraction."
The Standard
- Inevitable: Code should look like it couldn't be any other way.
- Boring: Novelty is for features, not architecture.
- Flat: Nested conditionals are a smell. Return early.
The Check
Stop and rethink if:
- Naming is hard (can't find a verb+noun that fits)
- Glue code appears (adapters just to make things talk)
- Comments explain why it's complicated
- Edge cases keep multiplying
The Protocol
If resistance is felt:
- STOP. Do not push through.
- Propagate: Solve one layer up?
- Simplify: Delete half the requirements?
- Research: Has someone solved this elegantly?
Real-World Examples
See examples.md.