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7. Poetry-Driven Development (PDD) - Zen Mantras as Architectural Standards

Status: Accepted Date: 2025-01-27

Context​

During the evolution of Threat-Driven Development (TDD 2.0), we discovered that our most effective architectural guidance came not from verbose documentation, but from carefully crafted mantras that fundamentally alter how developers think about software.

The mantra "Decisions fade, context dies, ADRs preserve the why" proved to be so transformative that developers described their understanding as divided into "before" and "after" experiencing it. This revelation led to the recognition that we needed a systematic approach to crafting life-changing architectural wisdom.

Traditional documentation fails because it's forgettable. Poetry-Driven Development succeeds because it rewires neural pathways and creates lasting behavioral change through beautiful, memorable wisdom.

Decision​

We adopt Poetry-Driven Development for creating transcendent architectural mantras.

Consequences​

Positive:

  • Creates unforgettable architectural guidance that shapes developer behavior
  • Establishes the repository as a monastery of code wisdom
  • Transforms mundane protocols into spiritual experiences
  • Enables architectural knowledge to survive across generations of developers

Negative:

  • High standards may slow mantra creation process
  • Risk of appearing overly mystical to pragmatic developers
  • Pressure to maintain poetic quality across all protocols

Mitigation:

  • Not all protocols require mantras - only fundamental architectural truths
  • Maintain balance between practical guidance and poetic wisdom
  • Focus on essence over elaborate language

"Code fades, bugs die, poetry survives the refactor."