Optimization Pattern — Problem

Pattern: Optimization
Component: problem.md
Version: 1.2 | Updated: 2026-07-29

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Statement

Performance work ships on intuition: no baseline, many variables changed at once, p50 celebrated while p99 or correctness quietly regresses.

Measurable symptoms

Symptom	How you detect it
No baseline	Cannot prove improvement
Multi-knob PRs	Cannot attribute the win/loss
Correctness break	Faster path fails oracle
Contract blind	p99/cost SLO ignored

Root cause

Optimization prestige rewards visible activity. Measurement and oracles feel like bureaucracy until a silent break hits production.

What breaks when this pattern is skipped

• Perf “wins” roll back after incidents
• Eval/quality gates fail after hot-path edits
• Arguments replace dashboards

Non-goals of this pattern

• Not premature micro-opts without a measured hotspot
• Not a substitute for algorithmic redesign when complexity dominates
• Not auto-tune via MCP in production

Related

• Failures — recovery table
• Workflow — ordered steps
• Checklist — exit criteria

Changelog

• 1.2 (2026-07-29): Optimization problem page expanded with skip-impact and operator symptoms.