Down to the Bricks
A first principles breakdown takes every constraint you believe applies to a problem and sorts it into one of two piles: things that are actually true — physics, law, hard resource limits — and things that are just how it's usually done. The second pile is where the room to move usually is.
When to use it
Use it on a problem where someone has said 'that's impossible' or 'that's just not how it's done,' and you suspect the real barrier is convention rather than an actual constraint — pricing, process, product design, anything that's been done one way for long enough that the way has started to look like a law.
When it's the wrong tool
It's the wrong tool for a problem whose constraints really are fixed — you can break a pricing convention down to its bricks, but you can't first-principles your way around a genuine legal requirement or a hard physical limit, and treating those as negotiable wastes effort on a wall that isn't actually there. It also takes real time and isn't worth it for small, low-stakes problems where the conventional approach is perfectly adequate.
An example
A team believes a product can't ship for under $100, because 'that's what this category costs.' Broken down: the materials come to about $20, and the rest is a distribution model built around physical retail — packaging, a middleman markup, a returns process. None of those are physical constraints; they're conventions of the category. Sold direct, without the retail markup, the same materials support a lower price. The $100 floor wasn't a brick. It was a habit.
How it works
- List every constraint you believe applies to the problem.
- Sort each one into 'actually true' or 'just convention.'
- Set the convention pile aside — it's not fixed.
- Rebuild a solution using only the constraints that are actually true.
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Pros & Cons — weighted
The classic, fixed: big reasons outweigh many small ones.
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5 min · the thing that keeps coming backPrefer to train the thinking behind these instead of reaching for a tool each time? The frameworks are explained free, and one drill takes about a minute.