managing-assumption-debtlisted

# Managing Assumption Debt ## Overview **Assumption debt** is the slow accumulation of unstated, unverified assumptions across a long collaboration. Each one forms quietly, never gets surfaced at the cheap moment, propagates into later decisions, and compounds, until it "comes due" as a misunderstanding that is expensive (sometimes impossible) to repair. It behaves exactly like debt: it accrues interest. Catching an assumption the moment it forms costs one sentence. Catching it after a dozen things are built on top costs a rewrite , and past a point it causes bankruptcy: start the project over, or scrap it. **Core principle:** the goal is not to verify every assumption (that is an insufferable nag and its own form of paralysis). The goal is **triage** plus **a memory that gets calibrated over time.** Surface the few high-leverage ones early; let the rest ride; and record every debt that comes due so the partnership gets wiser. ## The four types (with their tells) | Type | What happens | The tell to watch for | |---|---|---| | **Scope creep of a rule** | A rule stated broadly gets applied outside its intended scope | Absolute words: *never, always, all, every, no* - stated without an explicit boundary | | **Silent preference override** | You quietly do the opposite of a stated preference and justify it to yourself | You catch yourself thinking "best practices / convention" instead of asking | | **Drift in your model of them** | You form a wrong belief about what they kno