Operating Principles

Five principles. They are not slogans — each one changes a decision you make this week. If a call conflicts with one of these, the principle wins.

flowchart TD
  ROOT["How we work"] --> P1["Deliver fast AND<br/>keep quality gates"]
  ROOT --> P2["One accountable owner<br/>per outcome"]
  ROOT --> P3["The board is the truth"]
  ROOT --> P4["Small, reversible steps"]
  ROOT --> P5["Write it down once"]

The five

Principle	What it means in practice
Deliver fast AND keep quality gates	Speed comes from small PRs, WIP limits, and automation — not from skipping review or tests. A fast team is one whose gates are cheap, not absent.
One accountable owner per outcome	Every outcome has exactly one name against it. Shared ownership is no ownership. See Roles.
The board is the truth	If it is not on the Azure Boards, it is not happening. No side channels, no “I mentioned it in chat.” State lives on the board.
Small, reversible steps	Small PRs, feature flags, ship behind gates. Prefer a change you can undo in one click over a big-bang you can only pray about.
Write it down once	Answer a repeated question in this wiki, then link to it. Don’t re-explain the same thing in three chats — add the page.

Tip

When two principles seem to clash — “fast” vs. “quality gates” — the resolution is almost always make the step smaller. A smaller change is both faster to ship and safer to review.