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The Framework

The Five Pillars of Paranoid Verification

A battle-tested methodology for turning AI from an unreliable toy into a production-grade engineering tool. Backed by cognitive science. Verified by evidence.

01

Plan Everything Before Execution

No code is written until a detailed plan exists with full context. Invest 80% of time in thinking and planning, 20% in execution.

THE THINKING STACK:

  1. 1. Define the goal in plain language
  2. 2. Research the codebase — gather ALL context
  3. 3. Brainstorm multiple approaches
  4. 4. Evaluate trade-offs (simplicity, risk, maintainability)
  5. 5. Select approach, create step-by-step plan
  6. 6. Verify plan references actual files, functions, line numbers
  7. 7. Only then: execute

Research: Addy Osmani's "spec-driven development" independently validated this — the most productive AI coders write specs before code.

02

Verify Everything, Trust Nothing

Every AI output must pass structured multi-angle verification. 5 layers, each designed to make AI prove itself from a different perspective.

L1

Logical Verification

Have AI explain its reasoning. Does the approach hold up under scrutiny?

L2

Contextual Verification

Have AI verify it uses the right APIs and patterns for THIS project.

L3

Completeness Verification

Have AI check from the edge-case perspective: "Are you 100% sure?"

L4

Test Verification

Have AI generate tests, then run them. Code proves itself.

L5

Regression Verification

Have AI verify nothing else broke. Different angle, same rigor.

03

Maintain Context Obsessively

Context loss is the #1 cause of AI coding failures. Every strategy exists to prevent it.

CONTEXT MANAGEMENT TOOLS:

CLAUDE.md — Project-specific AI instructions (+10.87% improvement)

handover.md — Session state transfer (cross-session continuity)

CRITICAL LOW CONTEXT — Emergency protocol when context runs low

Subagents — Protect main context from exploration noise

04

Think Deeply, Execute Shallowly

The 80/20 rule, inverted. Most developers spend 80% executing. The paranoid developer spends 80% thinking.

20%

Thinking (vibe coding)

80%

Thinking (paranoid)

05

Document Everything As You Go

If it's not written down, it doesn't exist. Documentation is not overhead — it's a compounding knowledge asset.

Cognitive science: The generation effect (Slamecka & Graf, 1978) shows self-generated content is remembered 40% better than content merely read. Writing documentation IS learning.

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