Principlev1PR-1073
Measure where the system actually breaks down before…
Measure where the system actually breaks down before allocating optimization effort—optimizing components that account for a small fraction of total constraint yields negligible improvement regardless of optimization quality.
Why This Is a Principle
This applies Amdahl's Law thinking using axioms about biased task duration memory (Human memory of task duration is systematically biased…) and goals as filters (Goals as Perceptual Filters). Without measurement, your intuition about where time is spent is systematically wrong. The principle prescribes measurement-first to overcome this.
Source Lessons
Premature optimization wastes resources
Optimizing before you understand the system is the root of much wasted effort.
Speed optimization
Making an agent faster means it can serve you more often with less friction.
Optimize the bottleneck first
Improving anything other than the bottleneck is wasted effort.
Connections
Derived From (6)
AxiomDirected Attention as Depletable ResourceAxiomGoals as Perceptual FiltersAxiomHuman attentional systems evolved to prioritize signals…AxiomHuman memory of task duration is systematically biased…AxiomThe behavior of a system arises from its structure…AxiomEvery system is perfectly designed to get the results…