A useful experiment can become hard to trust when it quietly reaches shared work that was never part of the original question.
A team starts a small experiment to answer one question, then discovers it touches shared rules and work that were never part of the original test.
Find the smallest change that can answer the question
Learning scope and change scope should not silently expand together. The practical boundary is the smallest experiment that can answer the question without touching unrelated shared work.
Name the question first. Then ask which dependency, shared path, or existing behavior would be touched only because the experiment grew beyond what it needed to test.
Where AI fits
AI can map the stated goal, nearby dependencies, and the smallest learning boundary that would let the team investigate safely.\n
The human decision
People define scope, authorize changes, and retain rollback authority. Anything outside the learning boundary needs separate justification.
The lesson
A small experiment becomes hard to trust when it quietly reaches shared work that was never part of the question.
The Build Log companion explains how a prototype became reviewable only after it was separated from shared purchase logic.
AI Skills
Use this lesson with the AI assistant you already use
A small experiment becomes hard to trust when it quietly reaches shared work that was never part of the question.
Paste the prompt, share only the context needed to answer it, and treat the result as a draft for your review. Do not include confidential information or let an AI assistant make changes without your approval.
Optional: for a visual report and saved memory, run /dxdev first.
Don’t have it? Get it at dxdev.com/skills/dxdev. The prompt works without it.
dxdev LESSON · paste into your AI agent
LESSON: 2026-04-13_smaller-blast-radius
WHAT TO SHARE:
A de-identified experiment goal, the work it may touch, and known dependencies or rollback options.
ASK YOUR AGENT TO:
1. Separate confirmed facts from assumptions and unanswered questions.
2. State the question the experiment must answer.
3. Map dependencies that are not necessary to learn that answer.
4. Propose the smallest safe boundary and rollback check.
RETURN:
A question, dependency, safe boundary, and rollback table for approval.
BOUNDARY: Do not change records, contact anyone, route work, publish content, or act in an external system. A person must review the evidence and approve every consequential step.
