What is the opportunity cost of deeper investigation?
Comprehensiveness
How much we cover.
- What must be thoroughly addressed?
- What can we treat superficially?
- What needs exhaustive coverage?
- What deserves just acknowledgment?
Layers
How many levels deep we go.
- How many levels down should we explore?
- Where do we stop digging?
- What requires root cause analysis?
- What can stay at surface level?
Investigation
How much we research and explore.
- What requires deep research?
- What can use existing knowledge?
- How many alternatives should we consider?
- When is one solution enough?
Verification
How thoroughly we check our work.
- What needs multiple reviews?
- What can be spot-checked?
- How many scenarios must we test?
- What requires independent validation?
Scenarios
How many special situations we handle.
- Which edge cases must we address?
- What rare scenarios can we ignore?
- How many exceptions need handling?
- Where do we draw the line?
Context
How much supporting material we include.
- What background must we provide?
- How much history is relevant?
- What context is essential?
- What can readers find elsewhere?