Concept
Economics of judgment
What becomes measurable once thinking has an edge.
Cover for Economics of judgment8 concepts in this section.
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Illustration for Two budgets , cost and timeCost and time to decide
11 minTwo budgets , cost and time
Thoughtware systems spend money and latency on every judgment. Architecture must allocate both budgets explicitly before you can argue about per-decision cost.
Illustration for Deterministic guards before cognitionFilter before cognition
13 minDeterministic guards before cognition
Run exact checks before expensive judgment. Guards fail fast, save both cost and time budgets, and keep open cognition on the remainder.
Illustration for Cost per decisionPrice the judgment, not the feature
10 minCost per decision
Once judgments have names, cost becomes arithmetic, one call, one price, prices sum. That is what makes design decisions arguable.
Illustration for Feature cost versus decision costTwo economic lenses
10 minFeature cost versus decision cost
A monthly feature total and a named judgment's price are different lenses. Design arguments need both once cognitive units have names.
Illustration for Tuning by wrappingImprove without reopening the call
11 minTuning by wrapping
Improve reliability with combinators that preserve the contract. Rewording the template throws away the evidence.
Illustration for Paying for reliabilitySpend where misses hurt
11 minPaying for reliability
Reliability is a line item with a price. Spend on wrappers, graders, and guards proportional to consequence, not to maximise cheap fluency.
Illustration for Decision cost falls with historyHistory lowers marginal cost
12 minDecision cost falls with history
As decisions close through cache, rules, and guards, marginal cost falls. Open judgment concentrates, and ordinary software has no equivalent property.
Illustration for The price of closed work left openPay once to close a call
11 minThe price of closed work left open
Every closed part left inside a cognitive unit is reliable work made unreliable, paid for in money and latency, every run.