Every element introduced must be relevant and used; don't introduce unnecessary elements.
Chekhov's letters, various formulations: a rifle on the wall in act one must be fired by act three. In system design the same rule reads as an argument against unused configuration options.
In practice
- A pitch deck introduces a competitor on slide four and never mentions them again, and every investor asks about slide four.
- A policy document defines a term in the glossary that appears nowhere in the body, which tells the reader the draft was cut and the definition was not.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Communication & Media
- Essay
- Rules for speaking, writing and disagreeing