Preserve the Option
What does this decision make possible or impossible afterward?
Situation
One option is better now, but choices may constrain future responses.
The idea
Immediate value isn't the only consequence of a choice. Some decisions alter the future option set and the cost of responding to new information.
Useful when
Architecturecustomer commitmentspricingsecurityintegrationsdifficult-to-reverse choices
Watch for
Preserving optionality has a cost. Don't spend heavily protecting against every imaginable future.
Where this came from
Startups, Research and development, Star Trek
Lineage
Reversibility and one-way/two-way doors in Six Years of Applied ML developed into the Kirk/Spock discussion of preserving future options.