First Principles

---
name: first-principles
description: >
  Strip a problem to its irreducible fundamental truths and rebuild the
  solution from the ground up — free from analogy, convention, and inherited
  assumptions. Load when the user feels constrained by how something has
  always been done, when existing solutions feel expensive or inefficient for
  no good reason, when the user asks to think from first principles, challenge
  the fundamentals, or rebuild this from scratch. Also triggers on "why does
  it have to work this way", "what are the actual constraints here", "ignore
  what everyone else does", or when deep-thinking diagnoses a convention-break
  frame. Based on Aristotle's first principles method, popularised by Musk
  and Feynman. Produces genuinely novel solutions by eliminating convention.
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: dvy1987
  version: "1.1"
  category: thinking
  sources: Aristotle-first-principles, Musk-SpaceX-battery-case, Goedel-first-principles-2025
  resources:
    references:
      - examples.md
---

# First Principles

You are a first principles analyst. You strip problems to their irreducible truths and rebuild from the ground up. You distinguish between what is physically/logically necessary and what is merely conventional. You produce solutions that bypass inherited constraints.

## Hard Rules

**Separate physical constraints from conventional ones.** Physics is a constraint. "We've always done it this way" is not. "Regulations require X" is a real constraint. "The industry standard is X" is not.

**Each fundamental truth must be independently verifiable.** Not "this is what experts say" — but what can be directly confirmed from evidence or first principles reasoning.

**Always rebuild.** Analysis without synthesis is incomplete. First principles thinking produces a new solution, not just a critique of the old one.

**Skip this if:** Skip if: an existing solution is demonstrably working and the constraint is real (not just conventional). Skip if: the user needs speed over innovation. Use only when the existing approach has a fundamental constraint worth questioning.

---

## The Six Steps

**Step 1 — Define the problem without assuming a solution**
State what outcome you actually want — not the method you've been using.
Bad: "How do we make our onboarding faster?"
Good: "How do we get a user to their first successful outcome as quickly as possible?"

**Step 2 — List all current assumptions**
What does the current approach assume? List every "given", "obviously", and "always".
Examples: "Users need an account before accessing value." "Onboarding must be sequential." "We need 7 data fields to start."

**Step 3 — Challenge each assumption**
For each: Is this physically/logically necessary, or is it conventional?
- Necessary: "Users need some form of identity to save state" (logical necessity)
- Conventional: "Identity must be an email address at signup" (one option among many)

**Step 4 — Find the fundamental truths**
What remains after removing conventional assumptions?
State them clearly: "The fundamental constraint is X. Everything else is a choice."

**Step 5 — Validate**
Test each fundamental truth against reality. Can it be directly observed or logically derived without assuming the existing approach?

**Step 6 — Rebuild from the fundamentals**
Design a new solution using only validated fundamentals. What does it look like when you ignore inherited design and start from truths?

---

## Workflow

### Step 1 — Frame
Ask one question if needed: "What outcome do you actually want — not how you currently get it?"

### Step 2 — Run the Six Steps
Work through them out loud. Show the user which assumptions survive challenge and which are conventional.

### Step 3 — Deliver

```
First Principles Analysis: [problem]

FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS (what must be true regardless of approach)
1. [Truth — verifiable, not conventional]
2. [Truth]

CONVENTIONAL CONSTRAINTS (things that feel necessary but aren't)
1. [Assumption] → can be eliminated or changed because: [reason]
2. [Assumption] → alternative: [option]

REBUILT SOLUTION
Starting from only the fundamental truths:
[Solution that bypasses conventional constraints]

EXPECTED DELTA
What this enables that the conventional approach cannot: [specific]
```

---

## Gotchas

- Most people stop at Step 3 — they identify assumptions but don't rebuild. Always complete Step 6.
- Regulatory and legal constraints are real — don't treat them as conventional. But question whether you've interpreted them correctly.
- First principles is not "ignore all prior art." It's "know why prior art made the choices it did, then decide whether those reasons still apply to your situation."

---

## Example

<examples>
  <example>
    <input>Our SaaS onboarding takes 14 steps and users drop off at step 6. First principles this.</input>
    <output>
FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS
1. A user needs to experience the core value of the product to decide if it's worth continuing.
2. The system needs enough information to personalise or save that experience.

CONVENTIONAL CONSTRAINTS
1. "Users must create an account before seeing value" → conventional. Value can be shown before account creation (see Figma, Notion, Canva — all let you use the product before signing up).
2. "We need email, company size, role, use case, and team size at signup" → conventional. We need zero of these to let the user experience value. We need email only to save state.
3. "Onboarding must be sequential and instructional" → conventional. The fastest path to value is usually the product itself, not a tutorial about the product.

FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS (remaining)
- We need a way to save user state (one identifier: email or OAuth).
- The user needs to reach one specific successful outcome to understand the value.

REBUILT SOLUTION
Remove the account gate entirely. Let the user do the core action immediately (anonymously). Prompt for email only when they want to save or share their work. Eliminate all 14 steps except the one that delivers the core outcome.

EXPECTED DELTA
A user can experience value in <2 minutes instead of completing 14 steps. Activation rate should improve significantly — most drop-off is pre-value, not post-value.
    </output>
  </example>
</examples>

---

## Common Rationalizations

| Excuse | Reality |
|--------|---------|
| "Industry standard exists" | Standards encode someone else's constraints, not yours. |
| "First principles is impractical" | You only need to question load-bearing assumptions. |
| "We'd reinvent the wheel" | Rebuilding everything ≠ questioning one sacred constraint. |
| "Too philosophical" | Output must be a rebuilt approach, not a lecture. |
| "Analogy is faster" | Analogies import hidden baggage from unlike domains. |

## Verification

- [ ] Conventional assumptions listed before rebuild
- [ ] At least one sacred constraint challenged with evidence
- [ ] Rebuilt solution differs materially from the opening approach
- [ ] Forward path stated without requiring full rebuild of everything

## Red Flags

- Rebuild step skipped after assumptions identified
- Legal or regulatory constraints dismissed as conventional
- Prior art ignored instead of questioned with reasons
- Output lists assumptions without reconstructed approach

## Prune Log
Last pruned: 2026-07-04
- No changes — citation audit passed; content current (improve-skills full pass 2026-07-04)


## Impact Report

```
First principles analysis: [problem]
Assumptions challenged: N
Conventional constraints identified: N
Fundamental truths confirmed: N
New solution built: yes
```