This question feels like it's the heart of engineering, systems design, and problem-solving. Any time your'e designing something, you should ask yourself: > [!question] What am I optimizing for? If you're building something, you're inevitably faced with [[Tradespace]]s and decisions to make. This question forces you to specify *what* is important, what is **[[Priorities|priority]]** when making trade-off decisions. I also think it can be a useful technique for [[Group Ideation Timing|group ideation]] or group problem solving. Before you dive into so-called [[Solution Space]], agree to (or at least try to understand each others' ) "what am I optimizing for?" # Examples **My morning routine** - I optimize for: 1. Speed to work - I aim to minimize the time between eyes awake and applying my brain during my most useful part of the day. 2. Low stress - I prep bags the night before, skip breakfast, and generally try to move quickly without over-doing it **My workout routine** - I optimize (currently) for (in order) 1. Safety - which means I will progress more slowly than I might, to avoid setbacks by way of injury 2. Consistency - which means my workouts must be short enough to fit in & flexible 3. Health - which means I'm not "all-in" on any one of the [[Facets of Fitness]] 4. Strength over hypertrophy - for now, at least **These notes** - I optimize for: 1. Fun - I want to have fun writing them, or else what's the point 2. Reusability - which means they must be [[Atomic Notes]] **** # More ## Source - self ## Related -