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Judgment & ambiguity · Decisions under uncertainty

You're choosing a database for a new service with fuzzy requirements — the team knows the reads well but is guessing at write volume and future access patterns. Do you pick the flexible option, the proven one, or defer the choice?

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I optimize for reversibility over cleverness, because we don't yet know the writes or the future access patterns, and a store decision made confidently on guesses is the most expensive kind to unwind later.

The full answer: structure, worked example, likely follow-up.

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