Principles

Principles are values with their sleeves rolled up. When we're not sure what to do, we reach for these.

1. Start from the ground. Before abstraction, ask: what does the land need, what does the body say, who is actually in the room.
2. Make the implicit explicit. If there's an unspoken agreement running the situation, name it out loud.
3. Smallest viable structure. Add process only when the absence of it is causing harm. Remove process that has stopped earning its keep.
4. The person closest to the work decides. Authority follows contribution and proximity, not seniority.
5. Invite, don't recruit. We share what we're doing plainly and let people choose. We don't sell belonging.
6. Money is spoken about directly. Numbers, splits, and expectations are said aloud, early, without flinching.
7. Assume the next version of us knows better. Hold positions firmly and lightly at the same time.
8. Feasts matter. Time spent eating together is not overhead. It is the work.