Technical Evaluation

First Principles Analysis

Decomposes options to fundamental truths and builds up from there

Rubric Type

qualitative-impact

Complexity

high

Extractor

technical

Required Inputs

SolveRight's AI extractor automatically derives these data points from your decision description:

  • ✓core assumptions
  • ✓fundamental constraints
  • ✓derived requirements

Best For

Engineers

How First Principles Analysis Works in SolveRight

When you run a decision through SolveRight, First Principles Analysis is one of up to 155 frameworks that analyze your options simultaneously. The AI extractor identifies 3 key data points from your decision description, then the qualitative-impact rubric computes a normalized 0-100 score for each option. This score is combined with results from other frameworks to produce your overall ranking, with contradiction detection highlighting where First Principles Analysisdisagrees with other methodologies.

First Principles Analysis — Frequently Asked Questions

What is First Principles Analysis?+
Decomposes options to fundamental truths and builds up from there. In SolveRight, First Principles Analysis uses a qualitative-impact rubric to compute a normalized 0–100 score for each option.
When should I use First Principles Analysis?+
First Principles Analysis is best suited for Technical Evaluation decisions. It evaluates factors like core assumptions, fundamental constraints, derived requirements, making it valuable when you need evaluating architectures, tools, and engineering trade-offs.
How does SolveRight use First Principles Analysis?+
SolveRight runs First Principles Analysis alongside up to 154 other frameworks simultaneously. The AI extractor identifies 3 key data points from your decision description, then the qualitative-impact rubric computes deterministic scores. If First Principles Analysis disagrees with other frameworks, contradiction detection highlights the divergence.
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Identifies potential failure modes and their severity, occurrence, and detection

Sensitivity Analysis (Meta)

Identifies which input variables most affect the outcome

ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)

Evaluates software architecture quality against quality attribute goals; identifies risks and tradeoffs

CBAM (Cost Benefit Analysis Method for Architecture)

Evaluates economic ROI of architectural strategies