exploring-an-idealisted

# Exploring an Idea A design document reads as settled fact whether or not anyone checked. That is the whole failure mode: an unverified sentence in a PCD becomes an interface, then a dependency, then a week of work, and nothing in the process ever asks "how do we know that?" This skill exists to put that question before the document instead of after it. ## The case this was written from Needledrop (NFC tap-to-stream for record collectors) had an unusually good PRD and PCD — real non-goals, numeric kill criteria, a named Phase 0 with exit criteria. It still shipped four false premises into its architecture, and the Phase 0 spike had to correct all four: | The PCD asserted | Measurement found | |---|---| | "Spotify is effectively closed to us" (5-user dev cap, 250k-MAU quota wall) | Those gate **user-data** endpoints. Client credentials reach `/v1/search` and `/v1/albums` today. Spotify became the **best-covered** platform. | | Barcode/UPC is the strongest identifier — "UPC preferred" | Discogs carries the **physical pressing's** barcode; streaming keys the **digital release** UPC. Different numbers. Spotify UPC lookups hit **0/46**, Apple **5/42**. | | Odesli is the hedge for the Spotify gap | Odesli returned **0 Spotify links in 19 Apple-seeded** album responses. It could not be the hedge. | | Apple Music needs a MusicKit credential | Keyless for UPC and tracklist lookup. | None of these were sloppy. Each is a plausible reading of vendor documentation. They were wrong