Quantum Superposition

Origin. Metaphorical borrowing from quantum mechanics; no formal content.

Mechanism. Holds mutually exclusive design commitments simultaneously without resolving, and generates against each in parallel until forced to collapse by an external constraint. The discipline is the refusal to decide early.

Procedure. Identify a binary decision under pressure. Develop both branches to comparable depth. Identify what evidence would collapse the choice. Seek that evidence rather than arguing the branches.

Applies to. Decisions taken too early because the ambiguity is uncomfortable rather than because it is costly.

Limitations. The physics is imported as a name only. Superposition, interference, and measurement have no correlates here; nothing transfers from quantum mechanics to design deliberation, and treating the label as an argument is category error. The underlying practice — option preservation under uncertainty — stands on its own and is better named that.